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AIMIM backs Shiv Sena-led alliance as voting for 16 Rajya Sabha seats begins
The support of AIMIM, which has two members in the state assembly, was announced a day after a court refused to allow jailed NCP leaders Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik vote
New Delhi: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Friday announced its support for Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena-led ruling alliance to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the voting for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka began.
Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are seeking to wrest extra seats with the help of independents and smaller parties and sent their lawmakers to resorts ahead of the biennial election to prevent horse-trading.
The elections, whose results will be out by Friday evening, are seen as acid tests for Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, his Maharashtra counterpart, Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Haryana Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Maharashtra’s ruling alliance got a shot in the arm with the support of AIMIM, which has two members in the state assembly, a day after a court refused to allow jailed NCP leaders Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. “...our ideological differences with Shiv Sena, which is in power with Congress and NCP, will continue,” said AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel.
Shiv Sena candidate Sanjay Raut said an atmosphere is being created to suggest the election would be a close contest and added all four candidates of the alliance will win the election after the first round. “The Uddhav Thackeray government has the support of 169 legislators. The BJP should not be shocked if we get more.”
In Maharashtra , seven candidates are fighting for six seats and winning candidates need 42 votes. The BJP has 106 legislators in the 288-member assembly. It has fielded three candidates, Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik. The BJP has expressed confidence that it will get all three elected as it banks on Mahadik’s friendships across party lines.
In Rajasthan, a nominee requires 41 votes to win. Five candidates are in the fray for four seats there. In the 200-seat Rajasthan assembly, the Congress has 108 legislators and the BJP 71. The Congress has nominated three candidates and the BJP 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 has 26. It needs 15 votes to win its third seat. Two of Congress’s three candidates Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari are expected to win easily.
The Congress sought to keep its flock together by sequestrating its lawmakers in luxury hotels amid allegations of horse trading and corruption. Both BJP and Congress approached the Election Commission and Enforcement Directorate with complaints in the run up to the polls. The BJP too shifted its legislators to a luxury hotel on the outskirts of Jaipur on Monday.
In Haryana, the BJP and its allies have 57 lawmakers in the 90-member assembly and has named former minister Krishna Lal Panwar as its nominee. It is also backing independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma. To win, a candidate needs 31 seats. The BJP is keen to deny Congress nominee, Ajay Maken a seat. The Congress has exactly 31 votes.
Sharma cannot win unless a few Congress lawmakers switch sides or their votes are declared invalid. It is also unclear which way independent lawmaker Balraj Kundu and lone Indian National Lok Dal legislator Abhay Singh Chautala will vote. Both or one of the two may ultimately abstain.
In Karnataka, six candidates have filed their nominations for four seats. The BJP has 121 legislators in the 244-member house while the Congress has 70 and the Janata Dal (Secular) 32.
The BJP is comfortably poised to win two of the four seats and the Congress one. Both the BJP and the Congress have fielded an extra candidate for the fourth seat. The BJP’s nominees from Karnataka are Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Jaggesh and Karnataka MLC Lahar Singh Siroya. A candidate needs 45 votes to win.
