Jayant to be SP-RLD joint candidate for RS

Lucknow, May 26 (UNI) Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary will be backed by the Samajwadi Party for Rajya Sabha, the party said on Thursday.
In a tweet from its official handle, SP said Chaudhary will be their and RLD’s joint candidate for Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, the buzz was that Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav would be among the candidates for the House of Elders.
Dimple had lost the Lok Sabha elections from Kannauj to BJP’s Subrat Pathak.
However, the party picked Chaudhary, whose RLD was a key ally of the SP in the recent assembly polls.
Former Congress leader Kapil Sibal, SP leader and former Rajya Sabha member Javed Ali Khan are the other two candidates supported by SP.
Nominations for biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh started on Tuesday.
As per the poll schedule, candidates can file nominations till May 31 and scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done on June 1.
Nominations could be withdrawn till June 3, polling will be held on June 10 between 9 am to 4 pm and the counting will be held on the same day from 5 pm onwards.
The Rajya Sabha has 31 members from Uttar Pradesh. As per the party position in UP Legislative Assembly, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance has 273 MLAs, Samajwadi Party (SP) alliance has 125, Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) and Congress have two each and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has one member.
Considering party position BJP is set to get 7 out of the 11 seats while the SP gets three.
Fate of one seat is still not clear as it is being assumed that Raghuraj Pratap Singh ‘Raja Bhaiyya’ led Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) may support the BJP.
On the other hand, Congress and BSP may remain neutral as both the parties do not have alliance with any other party. (UNI)