New Delhi, Oct 6: Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday stated that his party’s ultimate focus is on the entire 403 seats of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, rather than just three seats.

The SP supremo took to X to share a cryptic post, creating a stir in the political circles, with many insinuating that the party has laid out its plan to not challenge the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections for the eight seat.

A day ago, when the BJP announced eight candidates for biennial Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh, multiple reports suggested that SP was mulling fielding third candidate in the poll fray. As per existing Assembly strength, the BJP has the numbers to easily win 7 Rajya Sabha seats while SP commands numbers to bag 2 seats.

SP has so far nominated two candidates, party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani for the Rajya Sabha elections. They also filed their nomination papers in the presence of SP chief.

The biennial elections for ten Rajya Sabha seats are scheduled for October 16. The terms of the sitting members expire on November 25.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced the names of eight candidates for the upcoming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh earlier on Monday.

Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar are the BJP’s eight Rajya Sabha picks, who will seek election to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh.

The list of candidates shows the party’s calibrated approach to address the demographic considerations and caste equations, while giving adequate weightage to women’s representation. Shruti Gangwar and Priyanka Singh Rawat are the party’s two women nominees in the list of eight candidates.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has 101 lawmakers in the 403-member Legislative Assembly.

New Delhi, Oct 6: Holding Tricolours and banners reading ‘Save democracy’, the INDIA bloc MPs on Tuesday commenced their protest march from Parliament to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) headquarters in the National Capital, demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar resignation.

The Opposition leaders raised slogans against the CEC, BJP and the RSS as they marched towards the ECI headquarters.

The DMK and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not participate in the Opposition’s march.

In view of the protest, Delhi Police and other security forces had been placed on alert. Barricades were also set up outside the ECI office.

Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, along with several other INDIA bloc leaders, staged a dharna after they were stopped from heading towards the ECI’s office.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Akhilesh Yadav, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee and SP MP Dharmendra Yadav were also seen raising slogans as they proceeded towards the poll body’s office.

Congress MP Pawan Khera, holding a banner reading ‘Save Democracy’, told media, “This is just the beginning. This issue will go a long way.”

Speaking to media, Congress leader Ragini Nayak said, “This is the time to save democracy and protect our democratic process from the assault on the Constitution of India and vote theft.”

Police have instructed security forces to be fully prepared to deal with any situation. Necessary arrangements have been made to control the crowd and maintain law and order.

“The police’s objective is to maintain peace and order during the protest and prevent any untoward incidents,” officials said.

Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been imposed in and around Jantar Mantar. Under this, restrictions may be imposed on certain activities and gatherings in the area.

The administration has appealed to the public to follow the prescribed rules and cooperate with security arrangements.

New Delhi, Oct 6: Several lawmakers of the INDIA bloc marched towards the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, against alleged irregularities in poll body decisions, regarding the Special Intensive Revision exercise and demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

From Congress to Trinamool Congress to Samajwadi Party to other allies of INDIA bloc, all participated in the mega demonstration against the CEC. Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Virendra Singh said that they joined the protest at the behest of party president Akhilesh Yadav.

“I do not know about the INDI Alliance, but our national president has called upon all MPs to reach Makar Dwar. We are all party workers, we have come here on the instructions of our national president,” Singh said.

All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the CEC during the protest.

Speaking on the INDIA bloc’s protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Banerjee said, “That vote thief Gyanesh should resign…”

Congress MP Imran Masood also demanded resignation of the CEC, alleging that Gyanesh Kumar had undermined the credibility of the Election Commission as an independent institution.

Speaking to media, Masood said, “The CEC should resign. Gyanesh Kumar has broken the trust that the Election Commission had earned as an independent and impartial institution in the country. When we demand Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, the BJP starts raising questions.”

Reacting to the decision of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to skip the INDIA bloc’s protest against the CEC, Masood said that only those standing with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would be visible in the ongoing political fight.

“Those who are walking hand in hand with Rahul Gandhi will be the ones seen in this fight. The rest will either be swept away in the storm or will remain on the other side and be swept away,” Masood said.

Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat said that INDIA bloc parties were protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and demanding the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar.

The protest has brought the Opposition’s concerns over the electoral revision exercise and the functioning of the Election Commission into political focus. However, the participation of some Opposition parties highlighted differences over the extent of coordination among INDIA bloc constituents.