The first electoral test for the INDIA alliance will be the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha battle on February 27

LUCKNOW: On February 27, voting for ten Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh will take place, marking the first electoral test of the recently formed alliance between the Congress and the SP.

The BJP filed former MP Sanjay Seth as their eighth candidate, bringing the total number of contenders to eleven, forcing an election.
The combined forces of the BJP and SP-Congress are working tirelessly to garner the necessary electoral support for their candidates.

With the UP assembly’s current strength, each contender needs the backing of 37 MLAs. 111 MLAs are needed to support the three candidates that the SP has put forth: Jaya Bachchan, Ramji Lal Suman, and Alok Ranjan. Nonetheless, 110 people support it (two from Congress and 108 from SP).
Two of them, SP head Akhilesh Yadav and MLA Irfan Solanki and Rama Kant Yadav, have been arrested on criminal accusations. Another MLA, Pallavi Patel, has said she would not vote for the party, accusing him of disregarding its PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) doctrine. Thus, the strength of the SP-Congress drops to 107, four short of the necessary number.
296 MLAs must back the BJP-led NDA in order for its eight candidates to be elected. However, as of right now, 277 MLAs—BJP (252), Apna Dal (S) (13), SBSP (6), and Nishad party (6)—support the saffron side. But Abbas Ansari of the SBSP is incarcerated. Even with RLD’s nine MLAs now leaning in the direction of the saffron camp, the BJP will still only have 286 MLAs in favor.
The focus of attention has switched to Raghuraj Pratap Singh, also known as Raja Bhaiyya, and his Jansatta Dal – Loktantrik (JD-L) party, which has two MLAs: Raja Bhaiyya from Kunda and Vinod Saroj from Babaganj, amid rumors that the lone BSP MLA Uma Shankar Singh may abstain from voting.
According to sources, the BJP and SP have started secret talks with Raja in an effort to get his endorsement for their candidates. Recently, Akhilesh lost control and dispatched Naresh Uttam Patel, the state president of his party, to visit Raja at the latter’s Pratapgarh home. Akhilesh was subsequently told by the Kunda MLA, it is learned. It is unknown what happened between the two, despite Akhilesh’s seeming assurance of Raja’s backing.