The ruling BJP is all set to make huge gains in Uttar Pradesh as it is all set to increase its tally in the biennial elections for the Rajya Sabha scheduled in April and in the UP legislative council where 13 seats are falling vacant. In the 245-member Upper House of Parliament, Uttar Pradesh has 31 seats being the most populous state of the country. Nine Rajya Sabha seats are due to fall vacant in Uttar Pradesh in April.
The members scheduled to retire are Naresh Agarwal, Jaya Bachchan, Kiranmay Nanda, Chaudhary Munwar Saleem, Alok Tiwari and Darshan Singh Yadav (all SP), Munquad Ali (BSP), Pramod Tiwari (Congress) and Vinay Katiyar (BJP).Their term ends on April 2. With the BJP and its allies storming to power in the state in the 2017 Assembly elections, the saffron party is set to wrest a lion’s share of these seats in the Rajya Sabha. In the 403-member Assembly, the BJP and its allies have 325 seats, followed by the Samajwadi Party - 47 MlAs, the BSP - 19, the Congress - 7 and the RlD only one.
During the previous biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha two years back, the SP managed to win six seats by dint of its strength in the state Assembly, whose members are voters in the indirect poling. But this time round, the saffron surge during the Assembly polls will leave a mark in the Rajya Sabha elections, and the party is all set to bag a majority of the seats going by its strength.
It is still too early to say whether the opposition parties will put up a joint candidate so as not to fritter away their votes. BSP supremo Mayawati does not appear to be in a mood to strike any quick pre-poll deal and her party went it alone in the recent elections in the state, the latest being the civic polls. Though the SP had contested the assembly in alliance with the Congress, they went solo in the urban local body elections.
In state legislative council, the upper house of the UP legislature 13 seats will fall vacant. Among the MlCs whose terms are coming to an end on May 5 are Akhilesh Yadav, former UP Chief Minister and national president of SP, Umar Ali Khan, Naresh Chandra Uttam, Madhu Gupta, Rajendra Chaudhary, Ramsakal Gurjar and Vijay Yadav, all from SP.
MlCs from other parties whose term ends on May 5 are Dr Vijay Pratap and Sunil Kumar Chittor (both BSP), Dr Mahendra Kumar Singh and Mohsin Raza (both BJP) and Chaudhary Mushtaq — the lone RlD member. Another seat, which has been vacated by former SP minister Ambika Chaudhary will also go to poll.
Both Singh and Raza are ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government. Mahendra Singh is minister of state (independent charge) Rural Development while Mohsin Raza is minister of state for Information Technology and Muslim Waqf and Haj.
In the 100-member Council, the BJP has just 13 members. The Samajwadi Party has 61 members, the BSP nine, the Congress two, the RlD one and ‘others’ 12. Two seats are vacant.
Though the BJP is poised to wrest a majority of the seats falling vacant, it still might not give the party the required strength in the legislative Council to push bills and get them passed.
During the winter session of the state legislature, the UPCOC Bill hit a roadblock in the legislative Council, where a determined Opposition stalled its passage, following which the Chairman referred it to a House panel for scrutiny, much to the embarrassment of the government.