Rajya Sabha polls for 12 seats on Oct. 16; SP to gain in U.P., BSP faces loss

The Election Commission on Tuesday, 22 September, announced elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal on October 16, setting the stage for a keen contest in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is expected to retain eight of the 10 seats and the Samajwadi Party is likely to gain one.

The EC also announced Legislative Council elections to 28 graduates' and teachers' constituencies in four states on October 23. These 28 members are retiring in November and December from the legislative councils of Uttar Pradesh (eleven), Bihar (eight), Karnataka (four) and Maharashtra (four).  

After the elections to Rajya Sabha, the BJP's overall strength in the Upper House is likely to increase by one, with the party set to bag the lone seat in West Bengal which fell vacant after the resignation of actor Rukmini Mallick, popularly known as Koel.

In Uttar Pradesh, based on the present strength of parties in the assembly, the BJP-led alliance is expected to retain eight seats, while the SP is likely to increase its tally to two.

The election could leave Mayawati’s BSP without representation in Parliament since it has no Lok Sabha member. Its lone Uttar Pradesh MLA, Uma Shankar Singh, died in August and the term of its only Rajya Sabha member, Ramji Gautam, ends in November.

Other MPs whose term will end are Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP leaders Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal, B L Verma and Seema Dwivedi, besides SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.

The 10th RS seat from Uttar Pradesh was held by former state deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma which fell vacant after his appointment as Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The BJP-led alliance has around 290 MLAs in Uttar Pradesh, while the SP-Congress combine has about 103. Each candidate needs 37 votes to win a Rajya Sabha seat.

The BJP can comfortably win seven seats, and the SP-Congress combine can secure two.

The notification for the elections will be issued on September 29. Nominations will be open till October 6, with polling and counting, if needed, scheduled for October 16.