Lucknow, Feb. 28 -- Putting a brave front over the cross-voting by his party MLAs, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that the decision to field a third candidate was a strategic move aimed at testing the true allegiance of his party members. Seven Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs cross-voted for the BJP in the polling for Rajya Sabha polls held here on Tuesday.
The SP MLAs who cross-voted include Rakesh Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh, Vinod Chaturvedi, Manoj Pandey, Ashutosh Maurya, and Pooja Pal. One legislator from Amethi Maharaji Prajapati did not turn up for casting her vote. The vote of another SP MLA Shazil Islam was invalid.
Describing the third candidate's nomination as a "loyalty test," Akhilesh Yadav wrote on X in...