CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Lucknow. Discussions over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s possible candidates have intensified ahead of the October 16 election for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. While the party faces the question of whether to give sitting MPs another opportunity, deliberations are also under way on bringing in new faces. According to reports, caste and regional balance are likely to be given importance in the selection of candidates.
The BJP’s strategy is said to place special focus on giving representation to non-Yadav Other Backward Classes and non-Jatav Dalit groups. The current Rajya Sabha vacancies are being seen as an opportunity to adjust the party’s social representation. However, the final list of candidates and its social equation will become clear only after a decision by the party’s central leadership.
The BJP has included several leaders in its panel of possible names, including Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Smriti Irani and Harish Dwivedi. The name of former IPS officer and former chairman of the Scheduled Castes Commission Brijlal is also being discussed among the possible candidates.
The current Uttar Pradesh Assembly numbers are also important in the Rajya Sabha election. Each candidate will need 37 first-preference votes. The effective strength of the BJP and its allies is said to be around 294, while the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have 102 votes. In such a situation, additional votes and possible cross-voting could play an important role in the contest for the eighth and tenth seats.
After the Rajya Sabha election, political preparations for the next Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh are likely to gather further pace. For this reason, the selection of candidates is being viewed not only as a Rajya Sabha election exercise, but also in the wider context of social and regional representation.
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