The outcome of the June 10 elections to the 13 Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad seats was virtually sealed when only 13 nominations were received till Monday, the last date for filing papers for the biennial polls.
On Monday, nominations were filed by Hridya Narain Dixit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Naseeb Pathan of the Indian National Congress. Eight candidates of the Bahujan Samaj Party and three of the Samajwadi Party had filed their papers earlier. The Rashtriya Lok Dal is not contesting the polls.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of the BJP filed his papers for the Rajya Sabha polls, due to be held on June 17.
Mr. Pathan's nomination as a Congress candidate and the Rashtriya Lok Dal deciding against fielding its nominee for the Vidhan Parishad polls has raised speculations of a possible tie-up between the two parties, although none of the State-level leaders is willing to go on record.
‘Talks are going on in New Delhi' has been the common refrain in the Congress and the RLD camps here.
However, the announcement by the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Pramod Tewari, in Lucknow on Monday that Satish Sharma will be the Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls has reinforced the possibility of an understanding between the Congress and the RLD. According to the CLP leader, Captain Sharma will file his nomination in Lucknow on Wednesday.
Sources said that Mr. Pathan's nomination was made possible only after the Congress high command obtained an assurance from RLD president Ajit Singh that his party would not contest the upcoming Council elections, notwithstanding the fact that two of his party MLCs are among the 12 members whose term ends on July 6.
Though the Rajya Sabha elections picture in relation to the RLD's stand is still not clear, but sources claimed that the party has preferred to stay away from the biennial polls. Reports have claimed that the RLD president is angling for a cabinet berth in the Manmohan Singh ministry as a reward for supporting the Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls.
With 20 and 10 members respectively in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, neither the Congress nor the RLD is in a position to win a Rajya Sabha seat on their own as 34 votes would be required for a candidate to emerge victorious. However, if the RLD does not field its candidate for the RS polls, the outcome of the June 17 election would be a foregone conclusion.
The RS polls in Uttar Pradesh will be for 11 seats and the names of 11 candidates have already been announced by the political parties --- seven of the BSP, two of the SP and one each of the BJP and the Congress. The RS nominations opened with Mr. Naqvi, who is the BJP vice-president, on Monday, but the actual picture on whether all the 11 candidates would be elected unopposed or election would be held for the 11{+t}{+h} seat would emerge on June 2 when Captain Sharma submits his papers.
