Election to 18 Rajya Sabha seats to be held on June 19

NEW DELHI: Elections to 18 Rajya Sabha seats, postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak and the ensuing lockdown, will be held on June 19. The voting will begin at 9 am on June 19. The counting of votes will be held on the evening of June 19 itself, as per the announcement made by the Election Commission earlier.

Out of these 18 seats, four are from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, two from Jharkhand, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and one each from Manipur and Meghalaya. 

The polls were originally scheduled to be held on March 26, but on March 24, the Election Commission announced their deferment.

Andhra Pradesh

The stage is set for polling on Friday to elect four members to the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh. 
Ruling YSR Congress is poised to win all four seats given its formidable strength in the State Assembly.

This is the first time that an election is being conducted for the Rajya Sabha seats from the State, post-bifurcation in 2014. With a strength of 151 in the 175-member AP Assembly and the support of four "rebel" legislators of TDP and Jana Sena, the YSRC is comfortably placed to win all four.

Minimum 36 votes are required for a candidate to win the Rajya Sabha seat from AP. The TDP, with just 20 out of 23 MLAs remaining on its side, stands no chance whatsoever.

From the YSRC, Deputy Chief Minister Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, Minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, realtor A Ayodhya Rami Reddy and Reliance Industries Senior Group President Parimal Nathwaniare in the fray now.

The TDP fielded its politburo member Varla Ramaiah, playing the Scheduled Caste card. Nathwanihad been an Independent MP from Jharkhand for the last two consecutive terms and he filed his nomination as the YSRC candidate this time.

Rajasthan

The stage is set in Rajasthan for Rajya Sabha elections on three seats on Friday, with the Congress and opposition BJP keeping their legislators in different hotels after accusing each other of poaching MLAs. 

For three seats in the House, four candidates (two from Congress and as many from BJP) have filed nomination papers. The Congress has nominated K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi for the polls, while the BJP has fielded Rajendra Gehlot and Onkar Singh Lakhawat.

The BJP had initially nominated Rajendra Gehlot but it later sprang a surprise by fielding Lakhawat on the last day of the nomination. The seats were held by Ram Narain Dudi, Vijay Goel and Narayan Lal Panchariya, all from the BJP, who have completed their term.

In the house of 200, the Congress has 107 MLAs and has the support of independent MLAs and legislators of other parties like Rashtriya Lok Dal, CPI (M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP).

The ruling party has more than enough majority to win two seats and the opposition BJP, which has 72 MLAs and support of three Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLAs, has the numbers to comfortably win one seat.

Fifty-one votes are needed for one candidate to win and the Congress is in a comfortable position to ensure the victory of both of its candidates, while BJP's only one candidate can win as per the numbers.

After 51 votes to its first candidate Rajendra Gehlot, BJP's spare votes will go to second candidate Onkar Singh Lakhawat. Ahead of the elections, both the Congress and the BJP had shifted their MLAs as well as those in support to different hotels. 

The Congress alleged that the BJP made attempts to poach its MLAs for the Rajya Sabha elections and for destablising the state government, a charge denied by the opposition party.

Gujarat

The closest battle is in Gujarat where the BJP in its last leg effort has managed to get the support of the NCP MLA to boost its chances of winning three seats in the state.

Sources in the BJP said the lone NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja has attended the BJP legislature party meet and the party`s numbers have now gone up to 104 in the state. 

But the BJP is still short of one vote as it needs 105 votes to get all its three candidates elected. Gujarat has 4 seats going to the polls and the Congress is on the backfoot after three of its MLAs resigned in June and five in March. 

The party is reduced to 65, short of 6 MLAs to win the second seat. The Congress claimed that it is short of just one vote for the second candidate to win. Congress in-charge Rajiv Satav said, "we are hopeful to win both the seats and have the required numbers."

Madhya Pradesh

In the high-profile election in Madhya Pradesh, where BJP’s Jyotiraditya Scindia is in the fray after whose revolt the Congress government fell, the second Congress candidate Phool Singh Baraiya will find it tough to get elected but the Congress is preparing to challenge it in court. 

Digvijaya Singh is slated to bag one Rajya Sabha seat.

Manipur

The latest coup for Congress and some reprieve has come from Manipur in the North East where the party was able to reverse `Operation Kamal`. A day ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, the party has turned the tables and it could be sweet revenge for Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. 

The Congress has fielded T Mangi Babu and the BJP has fielded former King Leishemba Sanajaoba.

Jharkhand

In Jharkhand, the Congress was hoping that Chief Minister Soren will muster the numbers but it seems that Congress candidate Shahzada Anwar will not make it to the Upper House. 

However, Congress in-charge of the state RPN Singh said, "We are trying to impress the MLAs to vote for the Congress as BJP was short of two." But sources say that AJSU will support the BJP, so now Shibu Soren of the JMM and Deepak Prakash of the BJP are comfortably placed to enter the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand.

Meghalaya

KHNAM MLA Adelbert Nongrum has decided to abstain from voting for the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat in the state giving a jolt to the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA).

In his letter to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, Nongrum said he is abstaining from voting to express his dissent against the National Peoples Party whose Lok Sabha MP Agatha K Sangma had voted in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in parliament whereas the party in the state opposed it.

Conrad Sangma, who is the chief of the NPP, has expressed confidence that MDA candidate W R Kharlukhi will win the election, which is scheduled on Friday.

The opposition Congress, having 19 MLA in the 60-member House, has fielded former legislator Kennedy Khyriem for the election. The MDA has the support of 41 MLAs in the House.