Parties putting out all efforts ahead of RS, LC polls

As Rajya Sabha biennial polling date drew closer, political parties today moved into top gear, holding meetings with their MLAs, even as Congress looked comfortable after RLD promised its votes to Kapil Sibal.
CLP leader Pradeep Mathur told PTI that Sibal's victory will be "ensured" as Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) headed by Ajit Singh decided to support Congress and Samajwadi Party to defeat communal forces.
To secure a seat in Rajya Sabha, a candidate requires 34 first preference votes.
Congress has 29 MLAs and is short of five votes, which can be managed by the 8-member RLD, which has shot into sudden prominence amid high probability of cross-voting.

Samajwadi Party has fielded seven candidates in the polls for the Upper House of Parliament but the seventh candidate is short of nine first-preference votes for victory.
In the 403-member Assembly, SP has 229 MLAs, BSP 80, BJP 41 and Congress 29. The rest belong to small parties or are Independents who hold the key.

If the three remaining votes of RLD go to the seventh candidate of Samajwadi Party (SP), still the ruling party nominee will be six short of the requisite number of votes.
SP Legislature Party met here this evening to finalise its strategy followed by a dinner.

At the CLP meeting, it was decided that a whip will be issued to its members to vote for the party candidate, Mathur said.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has convened a meeting of party MLAs tomorrow to decide which way the party's 12 surplus votes will go.
BJP has fielded one candidate whose victory is certain.
The nomination of social worker Preeti Mahapatra, who forced a contest by jumping in the fray as an independent, has been proposed by 16 BJP MLAs, rebel SP MLAs and some members of smaller parties and Independents.
BJP is desperate for additional votes to secure the win of its second candidate in the Legislative Council, where it has only 12 surplus votes and needs 17 additional votes.

Rajya Sabha candidates in the fray are -- Amar Singh, Beni Prasad Verma, Kuwar Rewati Raman Singh, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, Sukhram Singh Yadav, Sanjay Seth and Surendra Nagar (all SP), Satish Chandra Mishra and Ashok Sidharth (both BSP), Kapil Sibal (Cong), Shiv Pratap Shukla (BJP) and Preeti Mahapatra (Ind).
Similarly, with 14 candidates trying their luck for 13 seats of the Legislative Council, cross-voting by MLAs remains a probability.
Polling for the Legislative Council is slated for June 10.
The candidates vying for the Council seats are -- Yashwant Singh, Bukkal Nawab, Ram Sunder Das Nishad, Balram Yadav, Jagjivan Prasad, Shatrughan Prakash, Kamlesh Pathak and Ranvijay Singh (all SP), Atar Singh Rao, Dinesh Chandra and Suresh Kashyap (BSP), Bhupendra Choudhury and Dayashanker Singh (both BJP) and Deepak Singh (Cong).