The Samajwadi Party, after a week of speculation, officially withdrew its third Rajya Sabha nominee, Ram Gopal Yadav, on Tuesday, as per a post by party chief Akhilesh Yadav on social media.
With the BJP already fielding eight candidates, the seat tally in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly guarantees that all 10 Rajya Sabha seats can be allocated without a vote, provided the nomination papers clear scrutiny and no withdrawals occur before the October 9 deadline.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath witnessed the filing of the BJP’s nominees in a ceremony that also saw state BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak in attendance.
Both parties cited the open‑ballot system, which exposes legislators’ votes, as a factor in their calculations, and the BJP accused the Samajwadi Party of attempting to sow confusion despite lacking the numbers for a third seat; meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party shifted its focus to the 2027 assembly polls, eyeing a clean sweep of all 403 seats.
The Rajya Sabha elections will conclude without a contest, allowing the parties to concentrate resources on the upcoming state elections, with the next major political event slated for the 2027 assembly polls.