SP's Ram Gopal Yadav files nomination for Rajya Sabha election

Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the November 9 Rajya Sabha election, officials said.

He reached the Vidhan Bhawan along with party president Akhilesh Yadav and other senior leaders to file his candidature.

The election to 10 seats of Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh is scheduled for November 9.

Ram Gopal Yadav, whose tenure in the Upper House of Parliament is due to end next month, was the only candidate to file the nomination papers on Wednesday, they said.

The main opposition Samajwadi Party with 48 legislators can ensure the victory of one candidate.

At present, there are 304 MLAs from the BJP, 18 from the BSP, nine from the Apna Dal, seven from the Congress and four from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party. Five MLAs are Independents or from small parties.

The tenure of 10 Rajya Sabha members from the state is coming to an end on November 25.

These include four members of the Samajwadi Party, Ram Gopal Yadav, Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, Ravi Prakash Verma and Javed Ali Khan, and three from the BJP, Hardeep Singh Puri, Arun Singh and Neeraj Shekhar.

The Congress' PL Punia and the Bahujan Samaj Party's Veer Singh and Rajaram are also among these 10 members.

Uttar Pradesh elects 31 members to Rajya Sabha, out of which the BJP currently has 17, the SP has eight, the BSP has four and the Congress has two.