Lobbying hots up for RS, UP Upper House biennial polls

Biennial elections to 11 Rajya Sabha and 13 Legislative Council seats in Uttar Pradesh in June have triggered hectic lobbying in political circles in the state.

The support of 37 MLAs would be needed for a candidate's entry into the Rajya Sabha and 32 for Legislative Council.

The Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad seats will fall vacant on July 4 and July 6 respectively.

As per the existing strength of different parties in the 403-member state Assembly, Samajwadi Party with 227 MLAs would be able to get six nominees elected to the Rajya Sabha, the BSP two, and the BJP one.

At present, BSP has six of these seats and SP three.

Likewise, as per their current strength in the Assembly, SP, BSP and BJP would be able to get seven, two and one seats respectively in the Vidhan Parishad.

Congress has 29 MLAs and would have to garner additional support either from Independents or smaller parties like Peace Party (four MLAs) or Rashtriya Lok Dal (eight) for victory of nominees in both Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad.

Ruling SP, BSP and BJP are also expected to make efforts to pocket the eleventh Rajya Sabha seat and the two remaining Vidhan Parishad seats, leading to lobbying.

In the ruling SP, various names were doing the rounds for the Rajya Sabha seats. Speculation was rife that tickets might go to former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma, who recently quit Congress and rejoined SP, and Amar Singh, a former Mulayam Singh Yadav confidante.

Main opposition BSP, with 80 MLAs, has already announced the candidature of its outgoing Rajya Sabha member S C Mishra. The second retiring BSP member Ameth Rajan could also get another term.

BJP, having 41 MLAs, might resend Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to Rajya Sabha, the party insiders said.