The Election Commission on Tuesday announced elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand, falling vacant on 25 November. The 10 Rajya Sabha seats from UP falling vacant include 3 of BJP, 4 of Samajwadi Party, 2 of BSP and one of Congress.
The elections to a total 11 Rajya Sabha seats from UP (10) and Uttarakhand (1) will be held on 9 November. Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Congress leaders PL Punia, Raj Babbar, Chandrapal Singh Yadav, Javed Ali Khan, Arun Singh, Neeraj Shekhar, Ravi Prakash Verma, Rajaram, Ram Gopal Yadav and Veer Singh are the RS members whose terms are ending on 25 November.
The Election commission in its press release said that voting will be held on 9th November and counting will be conducted on the same day.
The EC has directed the Chief Secretaries concerned to depute a senior officer from the State to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections.
The EC further said that «Every person shall wear a face mask during every election related activity and social distancing shall be maintained as per the extant COVID-19 guidelines of the State Government and Ministry of Home Affairs».
The Samajwadi Party MPs, whose terms are ending in Uttar Pradesh, are Ram Gopal Yadav, Dr. Chandrapal, Javed Ali and Ravi Prakash Verma.
Going by the party’s strength, the SP can win only one seat. In such a situation, Ram Gopal Yadav may again be a candidate from SP.
Terms of BSP MPs-Rajaram and Veer Singh- are coming to an end. However, none of BSP›s candidates will be able to retain even a single RS seat due to lack of necessary strength in the assembly.
The tenures of BJP MPs Arun Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri and Neeraj Shekhar are also coming to an end. In such a situation, if BJP again makes them its candidates, then they will easily win. Neeraj Shekhar is the son of former PM Chandrashekhar.
There is a double trouble for Congress because PL Punia›s term as Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh is ending, while another party MP Raj Babbar from Uttarakhand is also retiring. Hence, due to lack of sufficient strength of the Congress in both the states, no candidate of the party will be able to get elected to the Rajya Sabha.
At the same time, the BJP is expected to win 9-10 seats out of total 11 falling vacant in UP and Uttarakhand together.
