CM Yogi Adityanath, Dy CM Keshav Maurya, UP BJP chief Pankaj Chaudhary, minister Suresh Khanna along with BJP RS nominees
Lucknow: All 10 candidates contesting Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh — eight from BJP and two from Samajwadi Party — are set to get elected unopposed after the SP decided against fielding its third candidate on the last day of nominations on Tuesday.
The mobilisation, sources said, was aimed less at the outcome of Rajya Sabha election and more at projecting organisational unity and confidence among the party workers. SP candidates – party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and Reliance Industries executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani – too would sail through easily. The absence of a likely contest between BJP and SP was seen as significant as the Rajya Sabha polls got projected as one of the first major electoral tests ahead of the UP Assembly elections due in less than six months. With BJP and its allies enjoying a comfortable majority in the state Assembly, the NDA alliance was well placed to win eight seats. Any attempt by SP to field a third candidate would have required support from other parties or dependence on cross-voting and strategic voting by legislators. Such a move also carried the risk of exposing fault lines within the opposition camp. All eight candidates reached the party state headquarters in Lucknow before proceeding to the Vidhan Bhawan to file their nominations. They were accompanied by chief minister Yogi Adityanath , deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, UP BJP chief Pankaj Chaudhary and several senior party members and office-bearers. The BJP office in Lucknow was decked up for the occasion, with party workers and supporters thronging the premises. Drumbeats and slogans created a celebratory atmosphere around what was otherwise a routine electoral exercise.
Not surprisingly, BJP turned the nomination filing into a show of organisational strength on Tuesday.