UP Rajya Sabha Polls: SP Drops Third Candidate Plan, BJP Set To Win 8 Seats

The Samajwadi Party has decided not to field a third candidate in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, paving the way for the BJP to secure eight of the state’s 10 seats without a contest.

The decision was taken on Tuesday morning, a day before the nomination deadline, people familiar with the matter said. The SP had been weighing the option of fielding a third candidate after the BJP announced eight nominees on Monday.

With the SP dropping its plan, all 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh are likely to be filled unopposed. The BJP is expected to win eight seats, while the SP would retain the remaining two.

SP Candidates Set To Retain Two Seats

The SP has already nominated party veteran Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani. Both candidates are expected to win comfortably based on the SP-led bloc’s strength in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

The decision against fielding a third candidate was driven largely by the numbers and concerns over potential cross-voting.

Rajya Sabha elections are conducted through an open ballot system, under which legislators’ voting choices are visible to their party’s authorised representatives.

Cross-Voting Concerns Ahead Of 2027 UP Polls

With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due next year, some MLAs in the BJP-led NDA were understood to be uncomfortable with the prospect of openly voting against their alliance’s candidate just months before the 2027 polls.

The possibility of cross-voting had been a key factor in the Rajya Sabha calculations.

A candidate requires 37 first-preference votes to win a seat. The SP-led bloc had enough numbers to comfortably elect two candidates but would have required support from outside its alliance to secure a third.

The BJP, meanwhile, had sufficient numbers to win seven seats comfortably and was seeking additional votes to secure an eighth.

HT had reported on October 5 that both the BJP and SP were closely monitoring each other’s moves amid concerns over possible cross-voting.