Samajwadi Party and BJP trade poaching claims ahead of Rajya Sabha vote

The Samajwadi Party formally entered the race on Wednesday, with nominees Professor Ram Gopal Yadav and industrialist Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani filing their papers in Lucknow. While the party had initially announced only two candidates, leadership is now openly weighing a third entry. Party insiders frame this as a strategic move to disrupt the ruling coalition, with MLA Mohd Hassan Roomi asserting that the party acts with the firm conviction of victory whenever it enters a contest.

Countering the narrative, Keshav Prasad Maurya dismissed the SP’s maneuvering, suggesting the opposition is merely courting its own political demise. Meanwhile, the nomination of Nathwani—a director at Reliance New Energy Limited—has drawn scrutiny from coalition allies like the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party. SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar publicly questioned whether the selection aligns with the Samajwadi Party’s stated commitment to its 'PDA' (Pichhada, Dalit, Alpashankhyak) social justice platform. With 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand up for election on October 16, both camps are now engaged in a high-stakes battle of defections and rhetoric, heightening the atmosphere surrounding the expiration of current terms on November 25.