IndiaPosted at: Oct 1 2026 2:59PM


Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections—the real fight is for the 10th seat

Vibha Sharma New Delhi, Oct 1 (UNI) Samajwadi Party (SP) nominees for the upcoming biennial Rajya Sabha elections-one expected, Professor Ram Gopal Yadav, and one surprise, corporate executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani, filed their nomination papers in Lucknow on Wednesday.
The BJP is yet to reveal its cards for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in the key state, which goes to the polls next year.
Interestingly, the SP is said to be considering a third candidate. Party leaders hinted at more “surprises”, saying that chief Akhilesh Yadav is preparing to field a third candidate.“SP will ensure that all three candidates win. We are fully confident. There will be more surprises,” SP leader ST Hasan was quoted as saying.
Senior BJP leaders in Delhi dismissed the possibility, saying the party is on the track to win “at least eight of the 10 seats.” Rather, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya claimed that “25 Samajwadi MLAs were in touch with the BJP”, thus hinting at more surprises.
The key question, therefore, is how the arithmetic works for the two principal contenders if they both aim for the 10th seat in the elections which will also mark the complete exit of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from Parliament.
According to the Election Commission schedule, polling for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh will be held on October 16.The last date for filing nominations is October 6.The term of the sitting members will expire on November 25.
Rajya Sabha members are elected indirectly by elected members of state legislative assemblies—the MLAs—through proportional representation using the single transferable vote system. They rank candidates in order of preference—1, 2, 3 and so on. A candidate who secures the required number of first-preference votes is elected. If no candidate reaches the set quota, a systematic procedure is followed using the second-preference votes.
An open-ballot system is used to guard against cross-voting. An MLA is expected to show the marked ballot paper to an authorised party agent before casting it. Independent MLAs are not required to show their ballots. However, despite the safeguards, cross-voting can happen.
In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, a Rajya Sabha candidate requires at least 37 first-preference votes to secure a seat.
In the current Assembly, the BJP-led NDA has around 294 MLAs, and the SP-Congress combine has about 102-103. In other words, the SP, if it tries really hard and manages to convince some MLAs from the opposite side, can get a third candidate in. But can it secure the necessary votes with an opponent like the BJP is the big question. Besides, with its numbers the BJP seems to be in a better position to win eight seats, and spring surprises.UNI VS AAB
Tags: #Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections—the real fight is for the 10th seat
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