UP Rajya Sabha polls: Confident of winning 8 seats, BJP eyes SP, Congress votes for its 9th candidate

Two out of 11 BJP candidates for Rajya Sabha polls - Vidhya Sagar Sonkar and Salil Bishnoi - withdrew their nomination today, leaving total 11 candidates for 10 seats of Upper House of the Parliament, thus opening the March 23 elections for horse-trading and defections. 

With 9 of its candidates in fray for the Rajya Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reportedly begun approaching MLAs of other parties.

After announcing names of eight candidates, including Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the BJP had fielded its ninth candidate Anil Agarwal on the last day of filing nominations on March 12 to queer the pitch for unopposed elections on ten Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

Within an hour, the BJP had fielded two more candidates Vidhya Sagar Sonkar and Salil Bishnoi to take the number of its candidates to 11. But, as was expected, Sonkar and Bishnoi withdrew their nominations on Thursday to let Anil Agarwal continue as BJP's ninth candidate.

In the UP Assembly, the BJP and its allies currently have 324 seats (BJP's Noorpur MLA died recently in a road accident). After ensuring the victory of its eight candidates, the BJP still has 28 extra votes for Anil Agarwal. In addition, the party also has the support of three independents, including Kunda MLA  Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya.

Agarwal, a prominent businessman from Ghaziabad, also has the support of one Samajwadi Party MLA Nitin Agarwal, son of Naresh Agarwal, who joined the BJP on March 12.

The BJP will require six more votes to make its ninth candidate sail through. The party is also eyeing 7 MLAs of the Congress through Naresh Agarwal.

With 47 votes in hand, the Samajwadi Party has fielded its sitting MP Jaya Bachchan for a fourth consecutive term of Upper House, while the BSP has given the ticket to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. 

The BSP has 19 MLAs in the 403-member UP Assembly. It needs 18 more first preference votes to ensure a smooth sail of its nominee Bhimrao Ambedkar, who has already filed his nomination, for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament. 

With 19 votes, the berth for Rajya Sabha came to the BSP after Mayawati struck a deal with the Samajwadi Party for their 10 extra votes for her party’s support to their candidates in by-polls.

The SP would be left with 10 surplus first preference votes after backing its candidate Jaya Bachchan, and together with seven Congress and one of the RLD, the BSP would be able to get its candidate elected.

A former BSP MLA, Ambedkar filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha polls on March 7.

The  Congress and the RLD have already announced support to the BSP candidate for Rajya Sabha berth. Elections to the Rajya Sabha almost looked unopposed on March 12 but the BJP fielded more candidates to force elections.  

After the humiliating defeat in by-polls on Gorakhur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, the BJP will put in all its might to ensure win of its ninth candidate against BSP candidate Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar to seek political revenge from BSP Supremo Mayawati.

After the withdrawal of nomination papers today, next eight days are likely to witness intense lobbying by the BJP to forge defections in opposition camp to muster 5 votes for its ninth candidate. 

What role Naresh Agarwal plays in this exercise remains to be seen.