The elections have been necessitated by the expiry of the terms of nine Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha members on 25 November. The outgoing members include Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, BJP leaders Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal and Seema Dwivedi, as well as SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP’s Ramji Gautam.
A 10th seat is already vacant following the resignation of BJP MP and former Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma. Sharma resigned from the Rajya Sabha after being appointed lieutenant governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Election Commission has scheduled polling for all 10 Uttar Pradesh seats on 16 October. Counting will also take place on the same day. The nomination process began on 29 September, with 6 October being the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny will be held on 7 October, while candidates can withdraw their nominations until 9 October.
The electoral contest will be decided by elected members of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly through proportional representation using the single transferable vote system. The current strength of the assembly gives the BJP-led alliance a numerical advantage in the Rajya Sabha contest, while the SP has the numbers to secure two seats with Congress support, based on the present composition of the House.
A contest for the 10 seats would arise if the number of candidates exceeds the number of available seats. In such a scenario, voting by MLAs and the possibility of cross-voting could become significant.
In the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, all eight BJP candidates and SP nominees Jaya Bachchan and Ramji Lal Suman were elected. The SP had also fielded former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Alok Ranjan as a third candidate, but he was defeated.
The latest nominations set the stage for the 16 October contest, with other parties yet to finalise all their candidates.
With agency inputs
