Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary on Monday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls as a joint candidate of the Samajwadi Party-RLD combine.
Accompanied by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Chaudhary reached the Uttar Pradesh assembly premises in the morning to file his nomination.
The SP won 111 seats in the recent assembly polls in the state while its ally RLD got eight.
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, another ally of the SP, won six seats.
According to the Election Commission of India, the last date for filing the nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls is May 31.
The documents will be scrutinised on June 1 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 3.
Polling will be held on June 10 and the votes will be counted the same day.
Asked whether RLD would be continuing its alliance with the SP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Chaudhury said, "We have to contest many elections together."
"I thank Akhilesh (Yadav)Ji and the Samajwadi Party. Our alliance is strong and will remain so. I will try to raise issues concerning Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha with all my strength. If there are any atrocities, those will also be raised in the House. Our (SP-RLD combine's) common issues will also be raised," the RLD chief said.
About the Uttar Pradesh budget, Chaudhary said, "The people will be confused by the web of statistics but core issues like unemployment and payment to farmers should be addressed."
Akhilesh congratulated Chaudhary over the nomination filing and said he was a joint candidate of the alliance.
With 273 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, the ruling BJP-led NDA is expected to comfortably get eight members elected to the Upper House of Parliament, while the SP and its allies, RLD and SBSP, with a strength of 125 legislators, will be able to ensure the victory of three candidates.
Uttar Pradesh sends 31 members to the Rajya Sabha. With 403 elected members in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, a candidate will require at least 34 votes for victory in the Rajya Sabha polls.
With the nomination of Jayant Chaudhary, the Samajwadi Party has completed the selection of three nominees who could win the Rajya Sabha polls based on their strength in the assembly.
It has extended support to Independent candidate Kapil Sibal and has also fielded party leader Javed Khan for the Upper House of Parliament.
Speculations were rife that the Samajwadi Party might opt for Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav as its third nominee for the Rajya Sabha election, but the party president decided in favour of Jayant Chaudhary.
The RLD, which has its support base among farmers and Jats, particularly in western Uttar Pradesh, can help the opposition throw a challenge to the BJP in the 2024 general election.
Akhilesh Yadav had partnered with the Congress in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and with the BSP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but could not stop the BJP juggernaut.
The Samajwadi Party's alliance with the RLD and Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suhaldev Bhartiya Samaj Party in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls might have failed to dethrone the BJP but led to a rise in the number of opposition members in the House.
