Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, eight MLAs from the Samajwadi Party (SP) failed to attend a meeting convened by party leader Akhilesh Yadav. According to a senior SP official speaking on condition of anonymity, the party chief had called the meeting to brief the MLAs on the voting procedures for the Rajya Sabha elections. However, the absence was noted from the party's chief whip in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Manoj Pandey, and seven other MLAs: Mukesh Verma, Maharaji Prajapati, Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi, Rakesh Pratap Singh, and Abhay Singh.
Speaking to PTI, SP’s national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary admitted that eight MLAs did not attend the dinner and meeting called by party chief Akhilesh Yadav. However, he did not name the MLAs. On a question whether Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel, who is an SP MLA, attended the meeting, Chaudhary said that though she was not in the meeting, she had a separate meeting with Yadav. She also assured her support to the SP candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections, Chaudhary said.
The SP's national spokesperson also remarked that the true position of the absent MLAs would only become evident during the Rajya Sabha election voting on Tuesday. He expressed confidence in the victory of all three SP candidates.
With the stage set for a heated electoral showdown in Uttar Pradesh preceding the Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday, the BJP has nominated eight candidates, while the opposition Samajwadi Party has put forth three contenders for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats. While the ruling BJP and the primary opposition SP have sufficient numbers to secure seven and three seats respectively in the Rajya Sabha, the addition of Sanjay Seth as the BJP's eighth candidate promises a competitive race for one of the seats.
Seth, an industrialist and former SP member, switched allegiance to the BJP in 2019. In the 403-member state assembly, the BJP and SP stand as the two largest parties with 252 and 108 MLAs respectively. The Congress, in alliance with the SP, holds two seats. BJP's ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) possesses 13 seats, while the NISHAD Party, RLD, SBSP, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, and BSP hold six, nine, six, two, and one seat respectively. Currently, four seats remain vacant.
Apart from Seth, the BJP has nominated seven other candidates: former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, Amarpal Maurya (general secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit), Sangeeta Balwant (former state minister), Sudhanshu Trivedi (party spokesperson), Sadhna Singh (former MLA), and Naveen Jain (former Agra mayor).