From Reliance to Rajya Sabha: Who is SP's 'surprise' candidate Dhanraj Nathwani?

The Samajwadi Party has named Reliance Industries executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani and veteran leader Ram Gopal Yadav as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh. Both candidates have filed their nominations on Wednesday (September 30).

The decision to field Dhanraj is particularly surprising as he is the son of RIL director Parimal Nathwani, who was earlier elected to Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand for a fourth term.

Dhanraj Nathwani's political debut

Parimal was a BJP-backed independent candidate pitted against Congress nominee Pranav Jha, and his victory came following a controversial election that saw several MLAs of the JMM-Congress-RJD-CPIML(L) ruling alliance cross-vote in his favour.

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Since Dhanraj's win is assured, the Rajya Sabha will have both father and son as members.

While Parimal Nathwani is Director of Corporate Affairs at Reliance Industries, Dhanraj is Director of Reliance New Energy Ltd and also president of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA). He is president of the Gujarat State Football Association as well.

Nathwani family's political connections

The father-son duo is known to share a very close rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Dhanraj succeeded Shah as the GCA president in 2022.

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Dhanraj is Group President at Reliance Industries and a Director of Reliance New Energy Limited. His responsibilities at RIL include Corporate Affairs, Finance, HR and CSR, while he also oversees the company's Jamnagar and Vadodara manufacturing operations in Gujarat.

The SP's other nominee, Ram Gopal Yadav, has been a Rajya Sabha member since 2004 and is the party's secretary general. The party's numbers in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly are expected to give it two Rajya Sabha seats with Congress support.

SP mulls fielding third candidate

Party sources said that there could be another twist in the offing as Akhilesh is seriously considering fielding a third candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.

Of the 10 seats for which elections are due on October 16, the BJP has the legislative strength to win 7 comfortably while the SP has the numbers to bag two.

With the winning quota set at 37 first preference votes, the SP, which has 101 MLAs in the state assembly, will require additional support of 10 MLAs from other parties if it wants to win a third seat.

Sources said that if Akhilesh fields a third nominee, the party will direct its MLAs to transfer the required number of first-preference votes to Ramgopal Yadav and the yet-undeclared candidate.

In such a scenario, Dhanraj may get the remaining first-preference votes of SP MLAs and will need to work his father's cross-party relations and immense resources to mobilise the 10 votes he would need to cruise past the victory line.

If the SP strategy works, the party will end up bagging one additional Rajya Sabha berth than what it stands to win with its current strength in the UP assembly.

Rajya Sabha poll schedule

The election has been necessitated by the expiry of the terms of nine Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh on November 25. A tenth seat became vacant after former Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma resigned following his appointment as Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

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The Election Commission has fixed October 6 as the last date for nominations. Scrutiny will take place on October 7, withdrawals are allowed until October 9, and polling is scheduled for October 16.

In the 2024 Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP won eight seats in Uttar Pradesh while the SP won two. The SP's third candidate, former Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan, was defeated.