Polling for 15 Rajya Sabha seats today amid cross-voting concerns

Voting for 15 Rajya Sabha seats has begun across the states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

Of the 56 Rajya Sabha seats, 41 have already been filled after leaders were elected unopposed to them. These include former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and BJP chief JP Nadda.

The results will be declared the same day.

Tough fight over one seat in UP

Uttar Pradesh, which has 10 Rajya Sabha seats is slated to see a tough fight over one seat with the BJP fielding eight candidates and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) fielding three.

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

Seth, an industrialist and former SP leader, joined the BJP in 2019. He had filed his nomination in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and other senior party leaders.

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) has 13 seats, NISHAD Party has six seats, RLD has nine seats, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP has one seat. 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.

At present, there are 399 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

The BJP is said to be relying on surplus votes from the Rashtriya Lok Dal and its leaders claim that at least 10 SP MLAs are going to cross vote in its favour.

Karnataka: Cong ferries MLAs to hotel

While the ruling Congress has denied any chances of cross-voting, the party on Monday shifted all its MLAs to a hotel ahead of the biennial election to fill four vacancies from Karnataka in Rajya Sabha apparently to keep the flock together. Five candidates – Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrasekhar (all Congress), Narayansa Bandage (BJP) and Kupendra Reddy (JD(S)) – are in the fray.

All parties have issued whips to the MLAs, who are the voters in Tuesday's poll, amid apprehensions of cross-voting.

The Congress has 134 MLAs, the BJP has 66, JD (S) 19, while others account for four. Of the four others, the Congress claims the support of two independents and Darshan Puttanaiah from Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha and is confident of winning three seats. Interestingly, the fourth one – G Janardhana Reddy (Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha) met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday.

The Rajya Sabha election scene in Karnataka heated up after the BJP-JD(S) combine fielded its second candidate (Kupendra Reddy), even though the alliance had the strength to win only one out of the four seats.

According to official sources, each candidate has to get 45 votes to win, if there are only four candidates in the fray, but in the case of more candidates, then preference votes kick in.

The election is necessitated due to the retirement of Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar from BJP, and Congress' Chandrashekar, L Hanumanthaiah and Hussain, on April 2, after the expiry of six-year term.

BJP forces polls in Himachal Pradesh

While the Congress has a clear majority in the state – 40 out of 68 MLAs and the support of three independent MLAs – against the BJP’s 25, the saffron party has forced an election in the state by fielding Harsh Mahajan against Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The Congress has issued a whip to all its MLAs to vote for Singhvi, a step which the BJP has decried.

MPs in the Upper House of Parliament are elected by MLAs through the proportional representation process. MLAs are required to list candidates in order of preference. The candidate who is the first preference of a majority of the MLAs gets elected.

The BJP which already holds 28 of the 56 Rajya Sabha seats is expected to win 29 after the polls. The INDIA bloc is expected to win one Uttar Pradesh via alliance partner SP.

Elections to the 245-seated House is conducted every two years for 33 per cent of its seats. A Rajya Sabha MP has a term of six years.

The elections are necessitated as the term of office for 50 Rajya Sabha members from 13 states is set to get over by April 2 while that for six MPs from two states will conclude on April 3.