UP Rajya Sabha Polls: SP Decides Against Third Candidate, BJP To Win 8 of the 10 Seats

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Published: Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 10:45 [IST]

The Samajwadi Party has decided to stay out of a possible contest for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh by not fielding a third candidate.

The decision, taken on Tuesday morning, came a day after the BJP announced eight candidates for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant in the state. The deadline for filing nominations is Wednesday.

With the SP not putting up another candidate, the 10 seats are now expected to be filled without a contest. The BJP is set to win eight, while the SP will get the remaining two.

The SP has already announced Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani as its candidates. The party has enough support in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly to get both elected.

The decision largely came down to numbers.

A Rajya Sabha candidate in Uttar Pradesh needs 37 first preference votes to win. The SP and its allies have enough numbers to get two candidates elected, but not enough to secure a third without support from outside the alliance.

That made the possibility of cross voting important.

Rajya Sabha elections are held through an open ballot. This means legislators’ votes can be seen by authorised representatives of their parties.

With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections due in 2027, the prospect of MLAs openly voting against their own party or alliance candidate could have created political complications.

The BJP, on the other hand, had enough votes to comfortably win seven seats. It needed additional support to take the eighth.

The SP had been considering a third candidate after the BJP announced its eight nominees on Monday. Both sides were closely watching each other’s moves, particularly because of the possibility of cross voting.

The SP ultimately decided that it was not worth entering a contest that would require it to depend on votes from outside its bloc.