The BJP named eight Rajya Sabha candidates for the upcoming polls, but Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri is not on the list. Ten seats are falling vacant in Uttar Pradesh. The October 16 polls will be a tough contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party for these important seats.
Ten Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant in Uttar Pradesh, eight of which are currently held by the BJP, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) hold one each.
Currently, the BJP-led NDA holds 150 seats in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, while non-NDA parties account for just over 100 seats.
The UP Assembly currently has 396 members in the 403-member House, following the death of seven MLAs in the past 11 months. Each Rajya Sabha candidate, therefore, will require 37 first-preference votes to win. The October 16 polls is going to be a tough contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP). The BJP and SP have the numbers to win seven and two seats respectively out of the 10 at stake.
The timing of the polls adds to the intrigue as they come months before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections likely to be held early next year.
The BJP has 255 MLAs and its NDA allies add another 33: Apna Dal (S) 13, RLD 9, SBSP 6, and NISHAD Party 5. This takes its tally to 288.
With the support of Puja Pal; unaffiliated MLAs Manoj Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh, and Abhay Singh who were expelled from the SP in June 2025 for cross-voting in the 2024 Rajya Sabha polls; and two MLAs of the Raja Bhaiyya-led Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik), the NDA’s effective strength reaches 294, two short of the required 296 (37 for each) first-preference votes to ensure victory of eight candidates. Of the 10 seats that will go to polls, the BJP holds eight at present.