Lobbying for RS seats starts in UP

The elections to the 12 Rajya Sabha (RS) seats from Uttar Pradesh will once again reveal the fault lines of the political alignments and re-alignments of the major parties in the state.
Hectic lobbying has already begun for the elections on June 21, for which nominations will be decided 10 days earlier. The sitting MPs will retire on July 12.
Since RS MPs are elected by state MLAs in accordance with the system of proportional representation, the ruling Samajwadi Party stands to gain the most. High on the SP’s first list are former actresses Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi, Sahara industrialist Subroto Roy, K.B. Kamath, Managing Director of ICICI and filmmaker and former SP candidate from Lucknow, Muzzafar Ali. It will retain SP leader Rama Shanker Kaushik.
In an Assembly of 391 members, the SP has 187 MLAs, followed by BJP with 88; BSP at 65; Congress with 16; RLD at 13; CPI(M) and LCP with 2 each; ABLD at 1; and 16 Independent MLAs. The division of votes according to the proportional representation system in this House, therefore, gives each party one single transferable vote for every 33 MLAs.
Outgoing MPs include Ramgopal Yadav, a cousin of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has won a Lok Sabha seat, Munawar Hussein who has also become a member of the Lower House, the BSP’s ailing founder Kanshi Ram, hotelier Lalit Suri, an independent candidate, among others.
The SP, with its allies the RLD and CPI(M) can ensure the victory of a maximum of seven candidates, the BSP of two, and the BJP of another two RS candidates. The Congress and others like the 16 Independents by themselves have no voting power on their own. However, if they align with one of the major parties, there is scope for horse-trading.