Lucknow, Feb 15 (IANS): The BJP in Uttar Pradesh has announced its eighth candidate for the Rajya Sabha, queering the pitch for the Samajwadi Party and also forcing an election for ten vacant Rajya Sabha seats.

UP BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary announced Sanjay Seth’s candidature at the party office on Thursday.

He said that Seth would get support from MLAs outside the BJP who were impressed by the party’s policies.

The effective strength of the UP state Assembly, at present, is 396. Four MLAs have passed away and two are in jail.

A candidate needs 37 votes to win the Rajya Sabha election.

The BJP has 252 MLAs while its ally Apna Dal(S) has 13 seats in the Assembly, RLD has nine seats and Nishad Party also has six seats. Om Prakash Rajbhar's party also has six seats in the Assembly. BJP will also get two votes from Raja Bhaiya's Jansatta Dal.

With second preference votes, Seth may find the going easy.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) currently has 108 seats in the Assembly, while the Congress has two MLAs and BSP has one.

Since there is trouble within the SP and Pallavi Patel has already declined to vote for its candidate, the Samajwadi Party could face cross-voting from some legislators.

Sanjay Seth, a builder, is a former SP leader and also has many friends in the party. He joined the BJP in 2019