With one BSP MLA believed to have cross-voted and two others in jail being denied permission to vote in the Rajya Sabha polls, the Opposition today faced a challenge of numbers to ensure victory for their second candidate.


While the ruling BJP is assured of eight of 10 Rajya Sabha seats for which voting was underway today, the Samajwadi Party has fielded Jaya Bachchan and the BSP Bhimrao Ambedkar for the remaining two seats.


As the parties totted their numbers, BSP MLA Anil Singh indicated that he had cross-voted in favour of the BJP, saying "I am with Maharaj-ji", a reference to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.


The Unnao MLA's vote could be crucial as it gives the BJP the edge in getting a ninth Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh. However, reports also said that he met UP CM Yogi Adityanath after casting his vote.


The Allahabad High Court has denied permission to BSP's Mukhtar Ansari, currently lodged in Banda jail, to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. And a court in Firozabad has rejected a petition by SP MLA Hariom Yadav, who is in Firozabad jail.


The Opposition is now banking heavily on the two votes of Independents -- Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya and his close associate and MLA Vinod Saroj. Both appeared set to vote for SP's Jaya Bachchan, prompting party chief Akhilesh Yadav to thank Raja Bhaiya and post a picture with him on Twitter. Raja Bhaiya, who has had a rocky relationship with BSP chief Mayawati, had tweeted this morning that he was with "Akhileshji" and specified that it did not mean that he was with the BSP. The BSP did not take an adverse view of Raja Bhaiya's comment.


"... had he any reservations he would have said openly," said BSP deputy leader in the Vidhan Sabha Uma Shankar Singh. He added that he could not be sure that Anil Singh had voted for the BSP candidate. Keeping it ambiguous, Anil Singh said that he had cast his vote and showed it to BSP agent Lalji Verma and the rest could be known from him.


"I have cast my vote after showing it to Lalji Verma and he will tell you the details... I am with Maharaj-ji (Adityanath)," he said after voting at the Tilak Hall in the Assembly complex.


According to Uma Shankar, 17 MLAs of the total 19 BSP legislators had cast their votes by midday and shown them to Verma. The BSP leader exuded confidence that all the nine surplus MLAs of the Samajwadi Party as well as seven of the Congress and one of the RLD have voted in favour of his party candidate.


"All the seven Congress MLAs went together to vote, while the SP has given us a list of their loyal MLAs," Uma Shankar said. Independent MLA Aman Mani Tripathi also said he was with 'Maharaj-ji' and would vote for the BJP. There are 11 candidates for 10 Rajya Sabha seats and 37 first preference votes are required for victory in each seat.


Since the BJP and its allies have 324 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the saffron party can easily bag eight of the 10 seats and will still be left with 28 surplus votes as the four-MLA strong Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has decided to go with the ruling party.


"There can be some contest on the ninth seat," a senior UP BJP leader said. BJP candidates in the fray from Uttar Pradesh are Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Ashok Bajpai, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, Sakal Deep Rajbhar, Kanta Kardam, Anil Jain, Harnath Singh Yadav and G V L Narasimha Rao. This ninth candidate is Anil Kumar Agarwal, a businessman. -- PTI


Image: Former UP Chief Minister tweeted this photo with Raghuraj Pratap Singh, thanking him for the support.