RS polls for 25 seats today; Jaitley in fray

New Delhi, March 22

The stage is set for the Rajya Sabha polls on Friday for 25 seats in six states, including Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is virtually assured of eight of the 10 seats. For the 58  seats to be filled, 33 candidates from 10 states were declared elected unopposed on March 15, among them seven Union Ministers.

Besides UP, where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is in the fray, elections will be held in West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Counting will be taken up at 5 pm, an hour after the voting ends. A byelection will be held for one seat in Kerala.

Arithmetically, the ruling BJP can easily win eight of the 10 seats in UP. The four-MLA strong Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), after being placated by BJP chief Amit Shah, and Apna Dal (Sonelal) with nine MLAs have decided to vote for BJP nominees. 

In all, there are 11 candidates in the fray for the 10 seats. The BJP and its allies have 324 MLAs in the 403-member Assembly after the death of its Noorpur MLA recently. To secure a win, a candidate needs 37 first preference votes. The SP has fielded Jaya Bachchan and BSP’s Bhim Rao Ambedkar. With 19 MLAs, the BSP is short of 18 first preference votes, and with Naresh Agarwal’s son Nitin, who is still an SP MLA, likely to cross-vote, a win for Mayawati-led BSP candidate seems difficult.

Mayawati is banking on some Independent MLAs, the 10 surplus votes of Akhilesh Yadav’s party, seven votes of the Congress and one of the RLD to reach the magic figure of 37 votes. 

Six candidates, including Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi, are in the fray for the five RS seats from West Bengal. The TMC has decided to back him. Five candidates are in the fray in Karnataka for four seats. The state’s ruling Congress has fielded three nominees and the BJP and JD(S) one each.

For the two seats in Jharkhand, there are three contestants, two of the ruling BJP and one of the Congress. One candidate each of the ruling BJP and Congress will cross swords for the lone RS seat from Chhattisgarh. Four candidates will try their luck from Telangana where polling will be held for three seats. — PTI

Going tough for BSP nominee

Lucknow: The lone NISHAD party MLA, Vijay Misra, after a meeting with SP MLA Shivpal Yadav on Thursday, reiterated he would vote for the BJP. Shivpal attended a dinner hosted by Gauriganj MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh to finalise the party's poll strategy. Two Independents, former minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and Vinod Saroj, attended the dinner. But they may not vote for BSP's BR Ambedkar. While BSP general secretary Satish Misra, UPCC chief Raj Babbar and Congress MP Pramod Tiwari held a meeting on "managing" the seven Congress MLAs, an apprehensive Mayawati sought a list of nine committed SP MLAs certain to vote for the BSP candidate. Two incarcerated MLAs, BSP's Mukhtar Ansari and SP's Hariom Yadav, have not been allowed to vote. — Shahira Naim