Rajya Sabha polls: In UP, BJP needs 9 for 9th candidate, here is the game plan

The elections to the Rajya Sabha will be held on Friday. The most-watched state would, however, be Uttar Pradesh where the BJP has fielded 9 candidates while the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party one each.

The two battles to watch out for tomorrow are with regard to the 9th candidate of the BJP and the one fielded by BSP.

To ensure a win from UP, each candidate would need to get 37 preference votes. With the BJP and allies having 324 MLAs in the UP Legislative Assembly, the BJP will have no problem in sending 8 of its candidates to the Upper House of Parliament.

After electing 8 candidates, the BJP would still have 28 surplus votes. This would mean the BJP would need an additional 9 votes to ensure that its 9th candidate is elected to the Rajya Sabha.

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The ninth candidate that the BJP is looking to get elected is Western UP businessman, Anil Agarwal. This is expected to be a close contest and he would need 9 more votes to get to the Rajya Sabha. The BJP would count on the votes of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party which has four MLAs. The BJP can also bank on Naresh Agarwal's son, Nitin Agarwal's vote which would take the tally up to five.

On the four remaining votes, there is still some hectic parleying that is on. The BJP would be hopeful that there could be some cross-voting. While the SP held a dinner yesterday to signal that its members were united, it is yet to be seen if Naresh Agarwal who recently quit the party could influence some of the lawmakers.

OneIndia News