By PTI
LUCKNOW: Javed Ali Khan filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha election as a Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate on Wednesday.
Khan (59), who represented the SP in the Upper House of Parliament from 2014 to 2020, filed his nomination in the presence of party leaders Ram Gopal Yadav, Ambika Chowdhury and others.
“I have filed my nomination as an SP candidate. I am grateful to the party leadership for giving me the chance,” Khan told reporters here.
Earlier, Kapil Sibal filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls as an Independent candidate supported by the SP.
With 273 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling BJP-led NDA will easily be able to get eight members elected to the Upper House of Parliament, while the SP and its allies (RLD and SBSP), with a strength of 125 legislators, will be able to ensure the victory of three candidates.
Though the SP has not announced the name of its third candidate, sources said party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav will file her nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Uttar Pradesh sends 31 members to the Rajya Sabha.
Among the 11 retiring MPs from the state, five are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), three from the SP, two from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and one from the Congress.
Among those whose tenures are ending include Sibal from the Congress, Satish Chandra Mishra from the BSP and Reoti Raman Singh from the SP.
With 403 elected members in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, a candidate will require at least 34 votes for victory.
The outcome of the state Assembly election held in February-March has changed the equation this time.
The Congress has two MLAs in the Assembly, while Mayawati’s BSP has one legislator.
Two senior BSP leaders — Mishra and Ashok Siddharth — will retire in July, after which it will have only one member, Ramji Gautam, in the Upper House of Parliament.
The five retiring Rajya Sabha MPs of the BJP are Zafar Islam, Shiv Pratap Shukla, Sanjay Seth, Surendra Nagar and Jai Prakash Nishad.
The SP leaders completing their terms include former Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council chairman Sukhram Singh Yadav, whose son Mohit has joined the BJP.
Besides Yadav, the tenure of Reoti Raman Singh and Vishambhar Prasad Nishad will also end in July.
The Election Commission had announced May 24 as the date of notification for the Rajya Sabha polls, while voting will be held on June 10 and the results will be declared the same day.
