RS polls: BJP wins beyond numbers, SP loses despite numbers in UP

Lucknow, Feb 27 (IANS) The BJP in Uttar Pradesh secured a major political victory on Tuesday by ensuring the win of its eighth candidate, Sanjay Seth, in the Rajya Sabha biennial polls, against a sanctioned strength of seven candidates. 

The BJP candidates who were declared elected to the Rajya Sabha include former Union minister R.P.N. Singh, former Agra Mayor Navin Jain, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former Mathura MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, former UP MLAs Sangeeta Balwant and Sadhna Singh, and UP BJP state general secretary Amar Pal Maurya.

The Samajwadi Party suffered a humiliating defeat for its third candidate, Alok Ranjan, after seven of its MLAs cross-voted in favour of the BJP.

The two SP candidates declared elected include former MP Ramji Lal Suman and Jaya Bachchan, who enters her fifth term in the Upper House.

SP President Akhilesh Yadav has announced action against its rebel MLAs after accusing the BJP of using coercive tactics to make the legislators vote against the party.

The seven SP MLAs who cross-voted are Manoj Pandey, Rakesh Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh, Vinod Chaturvedi, Ashutosh Maurya and Puja Pal.

One MLA from the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) also reportedly cross-voted in favour of the Samajwadi Party, which was denied by SBSP President Om Prakash Rajbhar.

Interestingly, the lone BSP MLA in the state Assembly, Uma Shankar Singh, voted in favour of the BJP.

Apna Dal (S) MLA Neel Ratna Patel, who was ailing, came in an ambulance to cast his vote.

The counting was briefly disrupted when the returning officer declared the vote of SP MLA Shahzil Islam as invalid.

Of the 399 MLAs in the UP Assembly, 395 cast their votes.

Three MLAs are in jail, while one SP MLA, Maharaji Prajapati, did not turn up.

--IANS

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