News Analysis India

Tag: MLAs

  • UP to witness keen contest in Feb 27 Rajya Sabha polls

    Lucknow: The February 27 Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh will witness a high-pitched electoral battle ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, with the BJP fielding eight candidates and the opposition Samajwadi Party three for the 10 seats up for grabs. The outcome of the polls to the Rajya Sabha is likely to have an impact in the politically crucial state just ahead of the general elections in the country.

    The ruling BJP and the principal opposition SP have the numbers to send seven and three members respectively unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, but with the BJP fielding Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate, a keen contest is on the cards in one of the seats.

    Seth, a local industrialist and former SP leader, joined the BJP in 2019. He filed his nomination in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and other senior party leaders. Voting for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on Tuesday and the results will also be announced the same day.

    The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member state assembly with 252 MLAs and 108 MLAs respectively. The Congress, an alliance partner of the SP, has two seats. BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) 13, NISHAD Party six, RLD nine, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP one. Four seats are currently vacant.

    The seven other candidates fielded by the BJP are former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant (Bind) party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh and former Agra mayor Naveen Jain. The SP has fielded actor-MP Jaya Bachchan, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman. To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs nearly 37 first preference votes, an official said.

    Elaborating further about the Rajya Sabha elections, Returning Officer Brijbhushan Dubey said, “A candidate will need 36.37 first preference votes to register a win. At present, there are 399 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.”

    Asked whether the three jailed MLAs will also be able to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections, Dubey told PTI that it would be decided by the court and the political party concerned.

    SP MLAs Irfan Solanki and Ramakant Yadav and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) legislator Abbas Ansari are in prison.

    Dubey further said that MLAs will enter from gate 7, take ballot papers from room 80 and head to Tilak Hall to cast their votes.

    “Polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm. Counting will commence from 5 pm and results are likely to be announced on Tuesday night,” he added.

    Exuding confidence in the BJP’s performance in the Rajya Sabha elections, Maurya told PTI, “All BJP candidates will register a win in the Rajya Sabha elections.”

    Chief whip of the Samajwadi Party in the legislative assembly Manoj Pandey said all SP MLAs will be voting for the party’s candidates in the Rajya Sabha election.

    Asked if one of the SP candidates may eventually fall short by one vote, Pandey said, “How will we fall short? Our people had contested (the 2022 UP Assembly elections) from the SBSP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. And, basically, they are from the SP.”

    Although Pandey exuded confidence that MLAs of the SBSP and the RLD will vote for the SP candidates, both parties have joined the BJP-led NDA.

    Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel, an ally of the Samajwadi Party, had earlier said that she would not vote in the Rajya Sabha polls as she did not agree with the SP decision to field Bachchan and Ranjan.

    Speaking to PTI on Sunday, she said, “I will be voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. That is my right and my duty. But I have not decided yet who will be the candidate.”

    On whether the two jailed SP MLAs would be casting their votes, Pandey said, “The party is making efforts to bring them to Lucknow so that they can cast their votes.”

    “All the three candidates fielded by the party will emerge victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections,” former chief secretary of the state and SP candidate Ranjan told PTI.

    He added that unlike the Lok Sabha elections or the legislative assembly elections, Rajya Sabha polls are a different ball game altogether.

    Congress MLA from Pharenda in Maharajganj district told PTI, “Now, with the Congress and Samajwadi Party forging an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the picture here is also very clear. We will vote for the candidates fielded by the SP. The candidate of the SP will be our candidate. We will vote for the SP candidate, about whom we will be told by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.”

    Ramashish Rai UP unit chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal, which recently switched over to the NDA fold said that all the RLD MLAs will vote for the BJP candidates in the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections.

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  • Rajya Sabha polls: Congress may sequester its MLAs in resort

    The ruling Congress is said to be planning to sequester its 135 MLAs in a private resort ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled for February 27 as the party leaders are worried over reports of its MLAs and independent members being approached by the NDA leaders.

    The presence of Kupendra Reddy, a wealthy businessman, as JDS candidate in the electoral fray has disturbed the peace of top Congress leaders, especially, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar.

    He had, on Monday, accused JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy of making “offers” to Congress MLAs to influence them to vote for his party candidate in the February 27 polls. The Congress has even filed a complaint with the Vidhana Soudha police accusing the Opposition parties of trying to lure its MLAs with offers of bribes for voting for the JDS candidate in the RS polls.

    Reddy has emerged as NDA’s surprise fifth candidate. If not for him, the four candidates would have won unopposed.

    The Congress is confident of securing the full support of its 135 MLAs, and three independents to get its three candidates through. There are only four RS vacancies in Karnataka, and the BJP and Congress have fielded one and three candidates, respectively. The JDS has maintained that it has fielded Reddy not to let the NDA’s surplus votes go waste. AICC leader Ajay Maken and sitting Rajya Sabha members GC Chandrashekar and Syed Naseer Hussain are contesting from the Congress while the BJP has fielded former MLC Narayansa Bhandage. A candidate needs 45 votes to win.

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  • Jharkhand Congress Chief on dissatisfaction among party MLAs over State Cabinet expansion: ‘We are aware, will discuss it’ – The Economic Times Video

    Ranchi (Jharkhand): After meeting a group of Jharkhand Congress MLAs after their swearing-in ceremony for cabinet expansion in Jharkhand. State Congress President Rajesh Thakur on Feb 17 said that MLAs were unhappy and had gone to the swearing-in ceremony at request. Rajesh Thakur said, “They (Congress MLAs) had expressed their feelings even before the oath-taking ceremony. They were unhappy, they had gone to the swearing-in ceremony at our request. We are aware of their feelings. We will discuss it.” Congress MLA Anup Singh said, “We are 12 people in total. We have shared our concern with our PCC president through a letter. Our demand is the same as before. Attending the oath ceremony does not mean that we have forgotten our demands. We are only trying to let our party know about our concerns.”