Political parties scrambled to stack up numbers for the crucial Rajya Sabha elections in seven States where a contest will take place on Saturday. In eight other States from where vacancies have arisen to the Upper House, there will be no contest as the number of contestants was eq-ual to the number of vacancies.
In all, 57 vacancies in the Rajya Sabha, from 15 States, will be filled after the completion of the exercise. Of the 57, 30 have already been decided without contest. Those elected unopposed include JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani, RJD leader Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharati, JD(U) leader Ramchandra Prasad Singh and BJP nominee Gopal Narayan Singh from Bihar.
All six nominees from Tamil Nadu – four of the ruling AIADMK and two of DMK – were declared elected. From Maharashtra, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Congress leader P Chidambaram were elected unopposed, along with NCP leader Praful Patel, BJP ideologues Vinay Sahastrabudhe and Vikas Mahatme and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut.
From Andhra Pradesh, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, MoS Science and Technology Y Satyanarayana Chowdary along with two other candidates TG Venkatesh and V Vijaysai Reddy were elected unopposed. Similarly from Gujarat, BJP leader Purushottam Rupala was elected on the last date of withdrawal.
Where the fight will be The stage is now set for a fierce contest in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan where different parties have fielded candidates without having adequate quotient of votes required for their election. All eyes are on Uttar Pradesh where the entry of BJP-backed independent candidate Preeti Mahapatra has forced a contest for 11 seats in the State. While all other parties barring the BJP have accused Mahapatra of “buying” votes, they are zealously guarding their flock to prevent cross-voting in Saturday’s poll. The Samajwadi Party has fielded seven candidates, but its seventh is short of nine votes. Although the Rashtriya Lok Dal and some independents have expressed their support, there is a chance of the SP’s own MLAs drifting towards Mahapatra.
The Congress has 29 MLAs and its candidate Kapil Sibal is short of five votes. He is said to be garnering support of the BSP, which has ten superfluous votes after getting its two candidates elected. Although Mahapatra is said to be wooing the BSP flock, the Congress seemed certain of Sibal getting their support.
The BJP, which has 41 MLAs and the support of NCP MLA Fateh Bahadur and another independent, will comfortably elect its official candidate Shiv Pratap Shukla. The party is believed to have transferred its seven spare votes in Mahapatra’s favour.
Karnataka conundrum A similar tug-of-war is imminent in Karnataka, where allegations of bribing JD(S) and independent MLAs have marred the polls. The Election Commission has, however, rejected demands for countermanding the elections. The Congress, which has fielded three candidates, had flown 11 independent and five JD(S) rebels to Mumbai to prevent them from being poached.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has the upper hand and will easily win two seats. For the third, the Congress has forced a contest by fielding lawyer Vivek Tankha. For the two seats in Jharkhand, the BJP has fielded a third candidate Mahesh Poddar to force a contest for the JMM candidate Basant Soren who is being backed by the Congress.