In the midst of voting for the Rajya Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Manoj Kumar Pandey resigned from his position as the party’s chief whip in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday.

His resignation from the position was announced barely one day after eight Samajwadi Party MLAs failed to show up for a meeting that the party Chief Akhilesh Yadav had called.

Eight BJP candidates and three Samajwadi Party candidates have applied for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh as the voting has begun.

The main opposition SP and the ruling BJP both have enough members to send seven and three members to the Rajya Sabha, respectively, without opposition. However, since the BJP is fielding an eighth candidate, a competitive race is expected in one of the seats.

The results will be announced by the end of the day.

The BJP has put up seven other candidates which includes, former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant (Bind); former MLA Sadhna Singh, and former Agra mayor Naveen Jain.

Actor-turned-MP Jaya Bachchan, former IAS officer Alok Ranjan, and Dalit activist Ramji Lal Suman are the candidates officially nominated by the Samajwadi Party.

In Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs around 37 first-preference votes to be elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Voting will end at 4 p.m., and counting will start at 5 p.m.

With 252 and 108 members, respectively, the BJP and the SP have the majority of seats in the 403-member state assembly. The SP’s alliance partner, the Congress, holds two seats.

Thirteen seats are held by the BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal), six by the NISHAD Party, nine by the RLD, six by the SBSP, two by Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, and one by the BSP. There are presently four open seats.

Voting for 15 Rajya Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh is taking place on Tuesday, amid concerns about cross-voting by the Congress and Samajwadi Party MLAs. 41 of 56 Rajya Sabha have already been elected unopposed which leaves the three states to witness heated contests between BJP and the INDIA Bloc.

The list of 41 unopposed elected Rajya Sabha MPs includes former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Ashok Chavan, and union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan. The voting for the remaining seats – 10 in Uttar Pradesh, 4 in Karnataka, and 1 in Himachal Pradesh started at 9 am in the Upper House of the Parliament and the results will be announced later in the evening.

The term for Rajya Sabha MPs is 6 years and the elections take place after every 2 years for 33% of the seats. The Rajys Sabha has strength of 245 members. In Uttar Pradesh a heated contest between the SP and the BJP will be witnessed. 8 candidates are contesting from BJP, while the SP has fielded 3 candidates.

According to reports the BJP is likely to win 7 seats and the SP is likely to win 3 seats. But there are concerns that many MLAs may cross vote, especially after some of the SP MPs went missing from a dinner hosted by party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday. Currently the BJP has 252 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative assembly while the SP has 108 MLAs along with Congress 2 seats.

BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 seats, NISHAD Party has 6 seats, RLD has 9 seats, SBSP has 6 seats, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik has 2 seats, and BSP has 1 seat. The BJP alliance and the SP-Congress alliance were negotiating with other parties to gather support for their candidates.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a series of railway infrastructure projects valued at over Rs 41,000 crore on Monday under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. PM Modi also laid down foundation stones for redevelopment of 553 railway stations. These redevelopment projects are spread across 27 states and union territories which were inaugurated at a cost of Rs 19000 crore.

The Prime Minister’s Office emphasised that these stations will serve as City Centres seamlessly integrating both sides of the cities. These train stations will have modern passenger amenities such as roof plazas, landscaping, intermodal connectivity, improved facades, kids’ play areas, kiosks and food courts.

These city centres have been envisioned to be environment friendly and accessible to differently-abled individuals. Their design will draw inspiration from local culture, heritage and architecture, as stated in a press release. The Indian Railways is known as the world’s busiest and oldest railway systems which serves a staggering 3.52 billion passengers and transports 1512 MT of freight in 2023.

The Railway network is known as the lifeline of India and operates over 13,000 trains daily, connecting 7,325 stations across the nation. According to the Amrit Bharat scheme aims at redeveloping 1309 stations nationwide. The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of 508 railway stations on Auguast 6 last year.

The primary objective of the scheme is to enhance station facilities with  modern infrastructure, including roof plazas and city centres, fostering a more convenient and comfortable experience for passengers. With a substantial allocation of over Rs 24,470 crore by the government, the initiative underscores a commitment to bolstering India’s transportation infrastructure.

 As part of the scheme, Indian railways is crafting comprehensive Master Plans, integrating urban development around railway stations. This integrated approach signifies a holistic vision aimed at fostering overall urban development which is centred on these pivotal transport hubs.