IndiaPosted at: Sep 24 2026 5:20PM


Upcoming Rajya Sabha polls may mark end of BSP’s representation in Parliament

Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, Sep 24 (UNI) The upcoming Rajya Sabha polls could mark the complete exit of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from Parliament. As many as 10 Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant, the polls for which may mark a major milestone for the national party, which once ruled Uttar Pradesh and played the kingmaker in the central politics.
The tenure of the BSP’s lone remaining MP, Ramji Lal Gautam, who holds one of these 10 Rajya Sabha seats, is ending on November 25. The BSP failed to win any seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, leaving it with zero representation in the Lower House and Gautam as its only representative in Parliament.
The party’s only sitting MLA in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Uma Shankar Singh, died in August 2026, leaving the BSP without direct voting power to nominate an independent or alliance candidate. A Rajya Sabha candidate from Uttar Pradesh requires at least 37 first preference votes from sitting MLAs to secure a seat. The party also has no member in the 100-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad), which is largely dominated by the ruling BJP-led NDA.
The BJP is expected to retain eight of the 10 seats going to polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Sources say it may pitch for the ninth seat as well. In other words, the Samajwadi Party/opposition could take either one or two of the remaining seats, depending on how SP-Congress MLAs vote. Opposition MLAs have been known to cross-vote in Rajya Sabha elections. Meanwhile, the BJP-led NDA has around 294 MLAs and the SP-Congress combine about 103 in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Earlier this week, the Election Commission announced polls for 12 Rajya Sabha seats—10 in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Voting, if required, will be held on October 16, with results also to be declared the same day. The BJP is also expected to add one seat to its Rajya Sabha tally by winning the lone seat from West Bengal, which fell vacant after actor Rukmini Mallick, popularly known as Koel, resigned from the House.
The Trinamool Congress had sent her to the Rajya Sabha before losing power in the Assembly election earlier this year.
Formed by Kanshi Ram in 1984 to give political heft and representation to Dalits, the BSP’s continuous decline has raised questions about its core vote bank—the Scheduled Castes, particularly Jatavs. The SC population is estimated at around 21% in Uttar Pradesh, with Jatavs accounting for more than half of the state’s SC population and its political rivals have been actively wooing this vote bloc in mind their political significance.
With its vote share steadily declining, observers say the 2027 Assembly elections could prove critical for the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and the BSP. In the 2024 general elections, the BSP’s vote share in the state fell to 9.39%, and it won zero Lok Sabha seats. In the 2022 Assembly elections, it won just one of the 403 constituencies, down sharply from 19 seats and a 22.23% vote share in 2017.
Lok Sabha MP Chandra Shekhar Azad, popularly known as “Ravan”, and founder of the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), has emerged as the main political rival of Mayawati, competing for the same Dalit voter base. From winning elections to allegations of being the BJP’s “B-team”, the BSP’s fortunes have declined, can it still revive Mayawati’s appeal remains to be seen.UNI VS AAB
Tags: #Upcoming Rajya Sabha polls may mark end of BSP’s representation in Parliament
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