Rajya Sabha Elections: BJP makes its first move to conquer UP in 2022; here's how

The Bhartiya Janta Party has made its first move to regain power in Uttar Pradesh after assembly 2022. Party has fielded just eight candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from India's most populous state. Everyone who knows the Rajya Sabha voting mathematics understands that wining the ninth Rajya Sabha seat out of a total of ten in contention will not be a big deal for BJP. Leaving a space vacant in the political chessboard of Uttar Pradesh BJP might have indicated what is cooking up in state politics. 

This BJP, in announcing the eight Rajya Sabha candidates, BJP has tried to target each caste segment of Uttar Pradesh. Another surprise, though in the announcement, is Sanjay Singh (Amethi) in the candidate list. Sanjay Singh jumped into BJP's ship from Congress recently. Some might consider this a big blow to the Amethi royal family. 

The BJP has announced its eight names for the elections to 10 seats of the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has fielded eight candidates despite in a position to win nine. Not naming the ninth candidate is believed to be a walkover for BSP.  Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Arun Singh, former DGP Brijlal, Neeraj Shekhar, Haridwar Dubey, Geeta Shakya, BL Sharma, and Seema Dwivedi were made candidates. The BJP has tried to find caste equations through two Rajputs candidates, two OBCs, two Brahmins, one Dalit, and one Sikh community.

राज्य सभा चुनाव के लिए पार्टी की ओर से प्रत्याशियों की घोषणा

सभी प्रत्याशियों को बधाई एवं शुभकामनाएं pic.twitter.com/aLTcDVmhnQ

— BJP Uttar Pradesh (@BJP4UP) October 26, 2020

Message to Dalits through Brijlal
To create an ethnic balance, BJP has also fielded new faces like Brijlal, Geeta Shakya, and BL Verma. Retired DGP Brijlal comes from the Dalit community and was considered close to Mayawati, but started his political journey with BJP rather than BSP. In the recent Hathras case, the way the Opposition tried to corner BJP on Dalit politics by sending Brijlal to Rajya Sabha, the party has tried to send a political message to the Dalit community. 

Wager to help the Brahmin community
The Opposition is constantly attacking the Yogi government regarding Brahmin politics in Uttar Pradesh. In such a situation, BJP has decided to send two Brahmin candidates from UP to Rajya Sabha, including former minister Haridwar Dubey and former MLA Seema Dwivedi. Dubey has been Minister of State for Finance in the welfare government in UP, and he is counted among the senior BJP leaders of Agra. However, he originally hails from Ballia and has been an RSS pracharak in Sitapur, Ayodhya, and Shahjahanpur. At the same time, Seema Dwivedi has been a two-time MLA from Mungra Badshahpur in Jaunpur.

Two candidates from the Thakur community
The BJP has made two Rajya Sabha candidates from the Rajput community. It has been decided to send Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister late Chandrashekhar, to the Rajya Sabha along with BJP National General Secretary, General Secretary, and Central Office Incharge Arun Singh. Neeraj Shekhar joined BJP after leaving SP last year. At the same time, there has been a resurgence of Dr. Sanjay Singh's hopes of going to Rajya Sabha. Sanjay Singh resigned from the Rajya Sabha membership with the Congress last year and joined the BJP. In such a situation, it was believed that the party would send him to the Rajya Sabha, but in the state, the BJP is on target regarding Thakurs. In such a situation, questions would be raised to make more than two candidates, which seems to be why the party did not make him a candidate for Rajya Sabha.

Wager to help OBC community
Keeping in mind the 2022 assembly elections, the BJP has decided to select the Rajya Sabha candidate. BJP has formed two Rajya Sabha candidates from the OBC community. Through Auraiya's vibrant leader Geeta Shakya, the party leadership has provided Bundelkhand with representation besides fulfilling women and backward quotas. BL Verma coming from such a Lodh community, has been made a candidate. Verma is considered close to former CM Kalyan Singh, and the Lodh community in UP is considered a traditional BJP voter. In this way, the BJP has also exercised a political message to the state's backward classes.

Did BJP give BSP a walkover?
BJP has fielded eight Rajya Sabha candidates in the state, while the party was able to win nine members. After putting one candidate each in SP and BSP grounds, ten candidates will be in the field. In such a situation, if no independent candidate comes in the field, then everyone is elected unopposed. However, earlier, it was believed that BJP would field nine candidates, but by announcing eight names, everyone has been surprised. Meanwhile, the Congress has alleged that the BJP has left one of its seats vacant to support the BSP candidate.

BSP's Ramji Gautam has filed a nomination on behalf of the party, but now the BSP path in Rajya Sabha seems easy due to BJP's move. After the BJP candidates' list was released, the UP Congress tweeted, 'BJP's condition is weak. To transfer votes to BJP in the BSP by-elections, there BSP-BJP hidden alliance.' 

भाजपा की हालत पतली है।

बसपा उपचुनावों में भाजपा को वोट ट्रांसफर करे इसके लिए बसपा - भाजपा के छुपन - छुपाई गठबंधन का एलान हुआ। https://t.co/7OzxBb59bo

— UP Congress (@INCUttarPradesh) October 26, 2020

A candidate will need 36 votes to win based on the current member numbers in the UP Assembly. The BJP's eight candidates are sure to win, but the party has not opened all its cards yet. In such a situation, all eyes will be on the nomination on Tuesday.