Comments
Intense politicking is afoot for the biennial elections to the 24 Rajya Sabha seats from States such as Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Rajasthan.
The Election Commission announced June 19 as the fresh date for the pending election for 18 seats to the Rajya Sabha from seven States, which was postponed due to the lockdown, and six seats from three States which will fall vacant in June.
Numbers game
Both the Congress and the BJP camps have been active to get the maximum number of seats, particularly in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In Gujarat, at least three Congress MLAs have announced resignations tilting the balance clearly in favour of the ruling BJP. The State has four vacancies and the BJP’s attempt is to grab three seats using its tally of 103 seats and reducing the Congress’s presence to 62 seats.
In Madhya Pradesh too, an intense battle is expected for the three States. Jyotiraditya Scinda joining BJP has strengthened the BJP camp.
The Congress is weakened as about 22 of its MLAs have resigned along with Scinda. Scindia is BJP’S candidate from the State. Digvijaya Singh and Phool Singh Baraiya are the Congress candidates.
Three seats are vacant in Rajasthan too. The Congress hopes to wrest two seats. AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and party’s Dalit face Neeraj Dangi are the Congress candidates while BJP has fielded Rajendra Gehlot and Omkar Singh.
In Karnataka, four seats are vacant. The BJP is likely to get two without any difficulties.
The Congress may get one and the remaining seat will be contested between JD(S) and the BJP. Congress has announced senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge as its choice. JD(S) is likely to nominate former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.
Spotlight on Gujarat
The most interesting fight is in Gujarat. With the resignation of Congress MLAs, the party faces a tough task in the election of its senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharat Singh Solanki.
The BJP’s decision to field Narhari Amin, a former Congress stalwart, as its third candidate changed the scene in Gujarat.
The Congress needs at least four more first preference votes to get its second candidate elected.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.