Explained: How UP Rajya Polls are a high-stake battle

The election to 56 Rajya Sabha seats, spanning across 15 states, will be held on February 27. Fifty members of the Upper House are set to retire on April 2, with another six retiring the next day. The retiree list includes former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) President JP Nadda and nine Union Ministers.

has ten vacancies, highest among all states, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar, each with six vacancies each. Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal have five vacancies each, Karnataka and Gujarat four. Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan have three vacancies each while there is one vacancy each in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh.

As the numbers in stand, the elections will not change the balance between the treasury benches and the Opposition much. While the BJP is expected to keep its tally, the Opposition ranks will be diminished by a few more seats.

Usually the candidates for Rajya Sabha polls are elected unopposed. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, the two largest parties, the ruling BJP and the principal Opposition (SP), seemed to have enough members in the state Assembly to elect seven and three Rajya Sabha MPs, respectively.

However, last week the (BJP) forced a contest at the last moment by putting up its eighth candidate after having enough numbers to ensure that seven of its nominees sail through smoothly. The eighth BJP candidate Sanjay Seth – filed his nomination papers at 1.30 pm, just ahead of the 3pm close of nominations on February 15.

Had the BJP not nominated Seth as its eighth nominee, election to the 10 Rajya Sabha seats would have passed unopposed. But now with 11 candidates in the fray, the polls will be required to decide 10 winners in UP.

Wit