In a big setback for the Samajwadi Party in the Rajya Sabha elections, the party's chief whip in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Manoj Kumar Pandey resigned before voting commenced.
Pandey was among eight MLAs who skipped a dinner hosted by party chief Akhilesh Yadav last night. Mukesh Verma, Maharaji Prajapati, Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi, Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh were the others absent from the meeting.
Ten Rajya Sabha seats are up for grabs from UP, and SP candidates were expected to win three of them. However, the BJP fielded eight candidates, setting the stage for a strong contest for one seat.
Speaking to reporters amid fears of cross-voting, Yadav said, "Those who wanted to profit from the situation will go. Those who were made promises will go."
Citing the example of Chandigarh Mayoral elections, Yadav slammed the BJP saying it would adopt any means to win elections.
The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member state assembly with 252 and 108 MLAs, respectively. The Congress, an alliance partner of the SP, has two seats.
BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 seats, NISHAD Party has six seats, RLD has nine, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP has one seat. Four seats are currently vacant.
BJP has fielded former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh, former Agra mayor Naveen Jain and industrialist Sanjay Seth.
The Samajwadi Party has fielded actor-MP Jaya Bachchan, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman.