LUCKNOW: The dinner diplomacy was in play in both the ruling and the opposition camps as they hosted their MLAs on Monday, the eve of crucial Rajya Sabha election set for an imminent high-pitched battle on Tuesday to elect 10 members up for grabs in Uttar Pradesh. A total 11 candidates are in the fray with the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) having the numbers to send seven and three members respectively, unopposed, but BJP’s Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate, necessitated a keen contest. The outcome of the RS polls is likely to have an impact in the politically crucial state just ahead of the Lok Sabah polls. BJP had earlier announced only seven names including Congress turncoat and former Union Minister RPN Singh, former Agra mayor Navin Jain, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former Mathura MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, former UP MLAs – Sangeeta Balwant and Sadhna Singh along with UP BJP state general secretary Amar Pal Maurya. The SP had fielded three candidates including Jaya Bachchan, who is the four-time RS MP and is being given the fifth term, former UP Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan and Ramji Lal Suman. Of the 10 seats going to be vacant on April 2, nine are from BJP quota and one – Jaya Bachchan — from SP.However, hectic political activity has been going on in both camps to arrange the requisite strength for their candidates. As per Returning Officer Brijbhushan Dubey, a candidate will need 36.37 first preference votes to register a win. At present, there are 399 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. “Polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm. Counting will commence from 5 pm and results are likely to be announced on Tuesday night,” he added.In the wake of the current position of the parties, of the total strength of 403, the UP Assembly, at present with four seats vacant, has the strength of 399. As per the seat arithmetic, each RS candidate will require the support of 36.3 legislators to sail through. While the BJP and its allies together make up 286 MLAs – BJP (252), Apan Dal (S): 13, NISHAD: 06, SBSP: 06 and RLD: 09.
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