All 10 Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha Candidates Elected Unopposed; BJP Takes 8, SP 2

All ten Rajya Sabha candidates from Uttar Pradesh — eight from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and two from the Samajwadi Party (SP) — were declared elected unopposed on Friday, the returning officer for the polls said.

"All the 10 candidates who were in the fray for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections — eight from the BJP and two from the SP — have been declared elected unopposed," said Ajit Verma, Returning Officer for the Rajya Sabha polls and Special Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.

Mr Verma said that barring SP candidate Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani, the others declared elected had collected their election certificates. Representatives of SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav and BJP candidate Radhakant Ojha collected the certificates on their behalf, he added.

The biennial elections had become necessary because the terms of ten Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh end on November 25. The newly declared members will serve six-year terms in the Upper House.

Under the rules governing elections to the Rajya Sabha, a poll is not held when the number of candidates with valid nominations equals the number of seats to be filled. Once the deadline for withdrawal of candidature has passed, the returning officer declares the remaining candidates elected unopposed. The same procedure applies to uncontested Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly by-elections.

Members of the Rajya Sabha are not elected directly by voters. They are chosen by the elected members of the State Legislative Assemblies through proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous State, sends 31 members to the Rajya Sabha — the largest contingent from any State.

The Rajya Sabha has a sanctioned strength of 250 members, of whom up to 238 represent States and Union Territories and 12 are nominated by the President. Members retire in staggered cycles, with roughly one-third of the House completing its term every two years, which is why biennial elections are held for a portion of the seats at a time.

Elections to the Upper House are watched closely because the Rajya Sabha can scrutinise and amend legislation passed by the Lok Sabha, and because its consent is required for certain categories of Bills, including constitutional amendments.

The list of members declared elected on Friday covers ten of the State's seats falling vacant later this year. With no contest in any of the ten, voters in Uttar Pradesh — who choose the State's 80 Lok Sabha members and 403 MLAs directly — had no direct role in this round, as the choice rested with the members of the State Legislative Assembly.

Officials said the certificates were issued at the conclusion of the process. Nine of the ten members declared elected have collected them in person or through representatives, while the certificate for the remaining member is yet to be collected, Mr Verma said.

The announcement brings the biennial election process for these ten Uttar Pradesh seats to a close without a ballot. Attention will now turn to the remaining rounds of Rajya Sabha biennial elections in other States, where the terms of sitting members also end in the coming weeks.