The most intriguing entrant is Gujarat-based businesswoman Preeti Mahapatra from Uttar Pradesh. Married to a multi-millionaire diamond merchant Hari Mahapatra, Preeti claims to be a social worker, though her credentials as a socialite are also no less. She has been ‘encouraged’ to enter the contest by BJP leadership to play party-pooper to former Union Minister Kapil Sibal, who is in the fray as a Congress candidate.
Uttar Pradesh has 11 vacancies in the Upper House for which polls are scheduled to be held on June 11. The ruling Samajwadi Party has fielded seven candidates including old comrades like Amar Singh and Beni Prasad Verma, who have returned to party fold. Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded two including its prominent Brahmin face Satish Prasad Mishra and BJP has fielded former state minister Shiv Pratap Shukla for the lone assured seat.
The Congress, in a tacit understanding with the ruling Samajwadi Party, has fielded former union
minister Kapil Sibal. With Mahapatra entering the fray, Sibal and to an extent Samajwadi Party’s Sanjay Seth, who is a known Lucknow-based realtor, could find the going tricky as there are fears of cross-voting.
Mahapatra’s cavalcade carried several representatives of the smaller parties, a few BJP and independent MLAs as she reached Lucknow to file nomination papers. For Mahapatra it is going to be an uphill task as she would have scout for a large number of votes through cross-voting to make it difficult for Sibal, who is banking on spare and second preference votes of ruling Samajwadi Party to sail through.
The BJP rationale for taking a calculated risk in Jharkhand by fielding a second candidate local unit treasurer Mahesh Poddar came out in the open on Tuesday with Gita Koda, wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, who is convicted in a corruption case, supporting Poddar’s candidature.
The BJP with 47 votes in the assembly for the second seat will need to garner nine votes from outside the party. With Koda backing Poddar, the industrialist-politician Poddar would need another eight votes in cross-voting to defeat JMM’s Basant Soren, who is banking on the support of the Congress and RJD.
In Haryana too, the battle has turned interesting with lawyer and party-hopper RK Anand being fielded by Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). There are two vacancies from the state and BJP has fielded union minister Birender Singh as its candidate.
Anand hopes to take on media baron Subhash Chandra, who has entered the fray as an independent supported by BJP. With three candidates in the fray for two seats polling is expected to take place on June 11. In case the Congress with its 17 MLAs decides to support Anand, he could sneak through as INLD has 19 MLAs.
Anand, a well-known Delhi-based criminal lawyer, had earlier entered Rajya Sabha on a JMM ticket from Jharkhand. He had defended JMM founder Shibu Soren in several criminal and corruption cases filed against the latter.