SP nominates Jaya Bachchan, Ramji Lal Suman, Alok Ranjan for Rajya Sabha polls

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party has nominated actor turned politician Jaya Bachchan, Ramji Lal Suman and Alok Ranjan as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking to the media, Samajwadi Party leader Rajendra Chaudhary says, "We have fielded Jaya Bachchan, Ramji Lal Suman and Alok Ranjan."

Jaya Bacchan and the two other candidates of the SP filed All three filed their nomination in the presence of Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, along with the proposers of all the candidates. Senior leaders of the party including Shivpal Singh Yadav were present during the nomination process.

Jaya Bachchan was first elected in 2004 as the Member of Parliament from the Samajwadi Party, representing Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha till March 2006. She got a second term from June 2006 till July 2010.

She was re-elected in 2012 for the third term and again in 2018 for her fourth term in the Rajya Sabha from Samajwadi Party. 

Meanwhile, BJP has nominated RPN Singh, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, Sadhna Singh, Amarpal Maurya, Sangita Balwant and Navin Jain from Uttar Pradesh.

From Chhattisgarh, BJP has fielded Dharmsheela Gupta and Bhim Singh from Bihar and Raja Devendra Pratap Singh.

Subhash Barala will contest from Haryana, Narayana Krishanasa Bhandage from Karnataka, Mahendra Bhatt from Uttarakhand and Samik Bhattacharya from West Bengal.

The Election Commission has scheduled the Rajya Sabha elections for 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh on February 27.

Voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm on this date, with the deadline for nominations set for February 15.

Results of the elections will be announced on the same day, February 27.

The Election Commission has announced the biennial Rajya Sabha polls on February 27 for 56 seats, as the tenure of incumbents ends in April. 

Uttar Pradesh will have the highest number of vacancies of 10 seats, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar (six each), Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (five each), Karnataka and Gujarat (four each), Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan (three each), and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh (one each).