NDA picks three more names, sets stage for RS contests

The hardest battle might be fought in UP, where the assembly strength is currently 399 and neither the SP nor the BJP have the numbers to assure the victory of the 10th candidate

New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Thursday threw in three additional candidates into the ring for the Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as the dramatic final hours of nomination for the February 27 elections set the stage for a keen contest in three states.

In Uttar Pradesh, where 10 seats are up for grabs, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named prominent realtor and former parliamentarian Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate to take on the Samajwadi Party, which has named three candidates.

The nomination was filed at 1.30pm, just ahead of the 3pm deadline, in a replay of contests in Rajya Sabha polls in 2016 and 2018. The BJP is assured of winning seven seats and the SP of two. For the last seat, the SP is short by four votes and hence second-preference votes could come into play.

In Himachal Pradesh, where only one seat is going to the polls, the BJP nominated Harsh Mahajan, a former Congress leader and aide of long-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, to take on the Congress’s Abhishek Singhvi. The Congress has a comfortable eight excess votes in the hill state but the BJP will hope for cross-voting by 10 lawmakers for its candidate to be elected.

In Karnataka, where four seats are in the fray, the Janata Dal (Secular) namedparty leader and former RS memberKupendra Swamy. The Congress is assured of two seats and the BJP of one, but for the fourth seat, the ruling party is short of one vote.

Whips don’t apply in the Rajya Sabha, allowing members to cross vote. But the voting is done with an open ballot, which means that legislators have to show their voting preferences to the party’s polling agent. This means anyone who cross-votes can be identified and may face expulsion.

Fifty-three of the 56 candidates will be elected unopposed. The NDA is expected to bag 31 seats, the Biju Janata Dal two and the YSR Congress party by three. The Congress is likely to retain 10 seats. Its partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, are likely to win three, four and two seats, respectively.

But the extra candidates thrown into the fray on Thursday complicate the fortunes of two Congress candidates and one SP pick. The hardest battle might be fought in UP, where the assembly strength is currently 399 and neither the SP nor the BJP have the numbers to assure the victory of the 10th candidate.

The SP has fielded three candidates – incumbent Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan, former chief secretary Alok Ranjan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman. Though it hasn’t indicated its preference, party leaders said that the Dalit leader will be given priority and the two other Kayastha names are likely to have to fight it out.

The party is worried about two jailed lawmakers –Ramakant Yadav and Irfan Solanki – and a third, Pallavi Patel, who has said she will abstain from voting because the party deviated from its PDA (pichda (backward), Dalit, alpsankyhak (minority) formula.

The party needs another fourvotes to ensure the outright victory of its third candidate. Otherwise, second-preference votes are likely to come into play.

“We are in a position to make all our three candidates win easily. We also have support from two non-BJP parties also,” said SP chief whip Manoj Pandey.

The BJP appeared confident. “We have enough support in the Vidhan Sabha. Many others (in the opposition) too are inspired by the Ram-may atmosphere (atmosphere full of Ram) and that is why all eight Rajya Sabha candidates would win,” said state BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary.

In Karnataka, Swamy’s candidature will make the road to the Upper House tougher for the Congress’s third preference candidate, Vokkaliga leader GC Chandrasekhar. “Chandrasekhar is very resourceful. He also has the full backing of deputy CM DK Shivakumar,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.

The ruling Congress has 135 MLAs in the 224-member assembly. It enjoys the support of Darshan Puttanaiah from the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha, and two independents. The BJP and JD(S) with 66 and 19 members, respectively. Each candidate has to get 45 votes to win, but since the number of candidates is higher than the number of vacancies, second preference votes are likely to be decisive.

Karnataka JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said that the decision to field an additional candidate was made after consulting the BJP high command. “BJP national president and national leaders held discussions with us and ultimately JD(S)-BJP coalition candidate, Kupendra Reddy, was selected,” he said.

The Congress appeared comfortably placed in Himachal Pradesh. The party has the backing of 43 lawmakers, and needs only 35 to make Singhvi win. The BJP has 25 legislators, which means 10 leaders will have to cross-vote for its candidate to win the seat.

“It’s a democratic country and everyone has a right to put up a candidate in an election. But if you see the numbers of the assembly, it is clear the BJP has resorted to the cheap tactics of Operation Lotus. They are using brazen money power without any basis,” Singhvi said.

Two Congress leaders pointed out that BJP was trying to take advantage of the fact that for the first time since 1952, a non-Himachali was fielded from the state as a Rajya Sabha candidate.

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