Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday announced Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani as its two candidates for the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.
The two are scheduled to file their nominations later in the day in the presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The party took to X and made the announcement: “Samajwadi Party’s authorised Rajya Sabha candidates Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani will file their nomination papers at 11 am in the presence of the Honourable National President Akhilesh Yadav.”
The Rajya Sabha elections also come ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Ahead of the announcement, Uttar Pradesh Minister O.P. Rajbhar took to X and questioned whether the SP chief will make choices of candidates based on the ‘PDA’ slogan.
“Akhilesh ji, I’ve heard you’re going to field three candidates for the Rajya Sabha. Tell me, will all three be from your “PDA” or not? The first one is Professor Sahab. He’s from your PDA, “P” for family. Now, who will it be for “D” and “A”? Will there be some “wealthy” person for D? A “criminal” for A?” Rajbhar questioned.
“Do tell, because all the backward class folks, Dalit brothers, and Muslim brothers want to know how you’re scheming to send family, the wealthy, and criminals from your PDA to the upper house of Parliament,” he said.
The Minister also “advised” the SP chief to “not lose the second seat in the pursuit of three”.
Earlier on September 22, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats, along with a by-election for one seat from West Bengal, on October 16.
Of the 11 seats going to the polls in the biennial elections, 10 are from Uttar Pradesh, and one is from Uttarakhand. The West Bengal election will be held to fill a casual vacancy in the Upper House.
According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the notification for the elections will be issued on September 29, while the last date for filing nominations will be October 6.
The scrutiny of nominations will be conducted on October 7, followed by the last date for withdrawal of candidature on October 9.
Polling for the Rajya Sabha seats will be held on October 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., while counting of votes will begin at 5 p.m. on the same day.
In Uttar Pradesh, the terms of 10 sitting Rajya Sabha members are coming to an end. The members whose terms are expiring include Arun Singh, Geeta alias Chandraprabha, Brij Lal, Ram Gopal Yadav, Ramji Gautam, B.L. Verma, Seema Dwivedi, Dinesh Sharma and Hardeep Singh Puri.
(IANS)
