UP Rajya Sabha polls set for close contest as BJP and SP eye crucial seats

Political tension is building up in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. The BJP and the Samajwadi Party have enough numbers to easily win seven and two seats out of the ten at stake. A direct contest is expected for the remaining seat because the SP plans to field a third candidate. These polls come months before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Seat Math And Numbers

The UP Assembly has 396 members right now out of 403 seats due to the death of seven MLAs over the past 11 months. Each Rajya Sabha candidate needs 37 first-preference votes to win. The SP has 101 MLAs, but its effective strength is 100 because Chail MLA Puja Pal shifted to the BJP and is now a state vice-president. Pal was earlier expelled from the SP after praising Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. With support from two Congress MLAs, the SP has 102 votes. This leaves the party nine short of the 111 votes needed to ensure three candidates win. The SP also faces a hurdle with Phulpur Pawai MLA Ramakant Yadav, who is currently in jail and whose voting ability is doubtful. Meanwhile, the SP has named Reliance Industries executive Dhanraj Nathwani and veteran leader Ram Gopal Yadav as candidates.

The Battle For Cross-Voting

Both parties are watching their legislators closely to prevent cross-voting. A senior BJP leader said losing the seat to the SP would send a bad message before the state assembly polls. The BJP holds 255 MLAs and its NDA allies add 33 more, bringing its tally to 288. With support from Puja Pal, three former SP MLAs expelled in June 2025, and two Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) MLAs, the NDA effective strength reaches 294. This is two short of the 296 votes needed to secure eight seats. The BJP is hoping that three SP MLAs who cross-voted in the 2024 polls will support its candidates again. One of them, Vinod Chaturvedi, told The Indian Express that he will vote for the BJP candidate. On the other side, SP president Akhilesh Yadav is banking on Muslim MLAs of NDA allies and unhappy BJP legislators to cross-vote for his party.

Context

Rajya Sabha elections in state assemblies often see intense political maneuvering and cross-voting because votes are cast openly by MLAs rather than through a secret ballot. Parties frequently rely on defections, floor-crossing, and strategic alliances to secure extra seats beyond their basic numerical strength in the house.