Rajya Sabha election results 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won eight Rajya Sabha seats and Samajwadi Party bagged two seats after cross-voting by MLAs in Uttar Pradesh today (February 27). BJP leaders and workers celebrated in Lucknow as the party won 8 of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in the state. Samajwadi Party has won 2 of the 10 seats.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath felicitated all eight BJP candidates who won the Rajya Sabha elections. Of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in the state, BJP won 8 and SP won 2.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "We had been saying from the beginning that all 8 candidates of the BJP will win. All our 8 candidates have won today. I congratulate all the winning candidates. I thank the people due to whose votes they won. Two SP candidates have also won. So, congratulations to Akhilesh Yadav too. BJP's vijay yatra that began in Rajya Sabha will continue in Lok Sabha and then go on till Vidhan Sabha elections and even further."
BJP MLC Mohsin Raza said, "We knew that this would be the result. BJP was confident that we would win all 8 seats. I don't understand why the Opposition was dejected because they did not have to win. Ye 8 nahi, 80 ki tayyari hai. We are going to win 80 after this...We will win 400 in the Lok Sabha elections."
Cross-voting by SP MLAs
Voting for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh ended on Tuesday evening, amid concerns in the Samajwadi Party (SP) over cross-voting and the party chief whip quitting while polling was underway in the state.
At present there are 399 members in the 403-member Assembly with four vacancies. Out of the 399 MLAs, 395 exercised their voting rights on Tuesday: three of them could not vote as they are in jail, while officials could not confirm the other MLA who did not cast the ballot.
"Voting began at 9:00 am and ended at 4:00 pm. The counting of votes started at 5:00 pm," said Returning Officer Brijbhushan Dubey.
Politicos cast votes in RS polls
Many senior leaders including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav cast their votes. Amid concerns over cross-voting and SP chief whip Manoj Pandey quitting while polling was underway, Yadav warned action will be taken against such MLAs. "Those who wanted to profit from the situation will go. Those who were given assurances (by the BJP) will go," Yadav told media at the assembly before casting his vote.
Akhilesh Yadav on cross-voting
"The BJP can adopt all tricks to win elections. It must have given assurance (to some MLAs) of some profit. BJP will do anything to win," he added. "Those who don't have the courage to fight will go. Some might have been afraid for their security, some might have been threatened or promised something."
The ruling BJP and the principal opposition SP have the numbers in the Assembly to send seven and three members respectively unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, but the BJP fielded an eighth candidate, making the contest interesting. Talking to media, BJP leader Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya claimed that Yadav made a mistake by fielding his third candidate and he does not the numbers.
"The SP has become 'Samaptwadi Party' and all the eight candidates of the BJP will win," he added. Pathak too asserted that all BJP candidates were going to win. SP MLAs Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh and Rakesh Pandey, who were among eight party MLAs to have skipped Yadav's Monday night meeting, arrived in the same vehicle. "We will cast our votes as per our inner voices," Rakesh Pratap Singh said.
The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member House with 252 MLAs and 108 MLAs respectively. The Congress, an alliance partner of the SP, has two seats. BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 seats, the Nishad Party has six seats, the RLD has nine seats, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP has one seat. Four seats are currently vacant.
The candidates fielded by the BJP are-
- 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 (Bind)
- Party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi
- Former MLA Sadhna Singh
- Former Agra mayor Naveen Jain
- Industrialist Sanjay Seth
The Samajwadi Party has fielded-
- Actor-MP Jaya Bachchan
- Retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan
- Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman
Seth, a former SP leader, joined the BJP in 2019. Any cross-voting by SP legislators could get Seth elected. To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs nearly 37 first-preference votes.
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