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Ahead of voting, Raj Cong, BJP say they will score big win in Rajya Sabha poll
Rajya Sabha elections: In Rajasthan, five candidates are in the fray for four Rajya Sabha seats that are due to fall vacant in July. A nominee needs 41 votes to win
JAIPUR: Rajasthan Congress lawmakers sequestered in a Udaipur resort to shield them from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to state capital Jaipur on Thursday ahead of voting for the Rajya Sabha elections on June 10 (Friday).
Polling will take place from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday in the assembly building. The counting of votes will start 5pm.
Friday’s election comes at the end of a week-long drama that played out in the state including an effort to involve the anti-corruption department of the state and the election watchdog.
Five candidates are in the fray for four seats. A nominee requires 41 votes to win. In the 200-seat assembly, the Congress has 108 legislators and the BJP 71. The Congress has nominated three candidates - Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari - and the BJP has fielded its legislator Ghanshyam Tiwari and backed independent candidate and media baron Subhash Chandra.
The BJP has 30 surplus votes and will need 11 more for its second candidate. The Congress, which has 26 needs 15 votes to win its third seat. “The Congress has to worry about keeping their flock together. The party is in disarray, we have full confidence that our candidates will win comfortably,” said a state BJP leader.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot was dismissive of the claim.
“We are winning all the three seats. We want that this time, such results should come so that no one tries horse-trading in the future. The BJP is trying to make this a tradition…I am seeing this since Bhairon Singh (former CM) was there. He was harassed and had to take their MLAs to Chokhi Dhani (a resort on outskirts of Jaipur), their own party MLAs. We want that they (BJP) should get such a lesson that such a situation should not happen in future”
There are 10 seats of Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan and currently, BJP has 7 and Congress 3 MPs. Elections on four seats are taking place as BJP’s Omprakash Mathur, KJ Alphons, Ramkumar Verma and Harshardhan Singh Dungarpur are going to complete their term on July 4.
