Lucknow, Feb 13 (UNI) Sitting Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan, former IAS officer Alok Ranjan and ex-minister Ramji Lal suman on Tuesday filed their nominations as Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates in the biennial elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
The SP candidates filed their nominations in the presence of party president Akhilesh Yadav, his uncle and National general secretary Shivpal Singh and other senior leaders at Central Hall in Vidhan Bhawan.
Sitting Rajya Sabha MP and actress Jaya Bachchan has been made the party candidate for the fifth consecutive term. She had been the SP’s Rajya Sabha member since 2004 and her term is about to expire on April 2.
Similarly, former bureaucrat Alok Ranjan is considered close to party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
He served as the Chief Secretary during Akhilesh’s tenure as the Chief Minister. Besides, he is also considered as one the prominent strategist for the SP chief.
Ramji Lal Suman, who had been a four time MP and former Union Minister, is currently serving as the national general secretary of SP. As he hails from the Dalit community it is being considered that the party had made an attempt to balance the community ahead of the Lok Sabha poll.
However, going by the numbers in the UP Legislative Assembly it would not be an easy task for the SP to get all the three candidates elected. In the house of 403, SP has 108 members and to ensure victory of one candidate the party needs votes of at least 37 members.
After Jayanat Chaudhary led Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD), which has 9 members in the Assembly, drifted towards the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), SP is set to fall short of votes to ensure victory of its third candidate.
Even if Congress, which has two members in the house, votes in favour of SP candidates, it will still be short of votes.
