India
oi-Gaurav Sharma
Samajwadi Party has finalised Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani as its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh, putting the spotlight on its strategy ahead of the October 16 polling.
Both candidates are scheduled to submit their nomination papers at 11 am in the presence of SP president Akhilesh Yadav. The nominations come as political parties in Uttar Pradesh prepare for the contest for 10 Rajya Sabha seats whose terms are ending in November.
Samajwadi Party finalized Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani as its candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections on October 16, ahead of the contest for 10 vacant seats.
Ram Gopal Yadav, one of the most prominent parliamentary faces of the Samajwadi Party has been associated with the party for decades. He has represented the SP in the Rajya Sabha on multiple occasions and has played a key role in the party’s parliamentary affairs.
The second nominee, Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani comes from the corporate sector. He is the son of businessman and Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani. His selection brings a new name into the SP’s Rajya Sabha team as the party prepares for the upcoming electoral contest.
The 10 seats which are going to be vacant in Uttar Pradesh are currently divided between the BJP, SP and BSP with eight belonging to BJP members and the SP and BSP having one seat each in the state. The members whose Rajya Sabha terms are ending include BJP leaders Dinesh Sharma, Hardeep Singh Puri, Arun Singh, Banwari Lal Verma, Brij Lal, Neeraj Shekhar, Seema Dwivedi and Geeta Shakya, along with SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP’s Ramji Gautam.
The Rajya Sabha election will take place ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, making the exercise an important part of the state’s wider political preparations. Parties are expected to focus on candidate selection, legislative numbers and support from smaller groups and unaffiliated MLAs.
With the SP naming its two candidates, the focus turns to the nomination process and numbers which will determine the final Rajya Sabha composition from Uttar Pradesh.
