The process for biennial election to 11 Rajya Sabha and 13 Legislative Council seats began today in Uttar Pradesh leading to intense lobbying among political circles for extra votes, with smaller parties likely to play a key role.
"The process has started, but no nomination was filed today," Principal Secretary Vidhan Sabha Pradeep Dubey told PTI.
If required, polling for the Legislative Council would be held on June 10 and that for Rajya Sabha on June 11.
The ruling Samajwadi Party was the first to announce names of seven candidates for the Rajya Sabha and eight for the Legislative Council.
The main opposition party BSP too had announced names of two candidates for Rajya Sabha and three for the state Council. The BJP and the Congress are yet to announce their candidates.
The support of 37 MLAs is required for a candidate's entry into the Rajya Sabha and 32 for Legislative Council.
As per the present party-wise strength in the 403-member UP Assembly, SP can win six Rajya Sabha and seven Council seats with 229 members in its kitty. To ensure its victory in the seventh seat in Rajya Sabha and eighth in the Legislative Council, the party would have to garner additional votes for which hectic lobbying is already on.
The prominent contenders from Samajwadi Party are Beni Prasad Verma and Amar Singh. While Prasad is a veteran Kurmi leader who recently quit Congress to join Mulayam Singh Yadav's party, Singh is a former MP, who was earlier expelled from the party for six years.
Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), with 80 MLAs could easily win two seats each in Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council, with additional votes to spare.
According to sources, SP hopes Congress to support its candidate for the additional seat in return for its support to Congress leaders Pramod Tewari and PL Punia, who were elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2014 and 2015.
If Congress fields its candidate for the Rajya Sabha then it will need six additional votes and two additional votes for the Council seat.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which has eight MLAs, has not yet opened its cards.
State RLD president Munna Singh Chauhan denied reports of backing BSP candidates S C Mishra and Dalit leader Ashok Siddharth.
"We will decide on the basis of which party we will ally in the 2017 UP elections," he said.
Smaller parties like Peace Party (one), Qaumi Ekta Dal (two), NCP (one), Apna Dal (one), Ittehad Millat Council (one), Trinamool Cong (one) and Independents (six) are likely to play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the candidates on extra seats.
The Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council seats will fall vacant on July 4 and July 6 respectively. At present, BSP has six of these Rajya Sabha seats and SP three.
