Rajasthan: All set for Rajya Sabha polls on Friday

The stage is set for the elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan on Friday, with the ruling Congress in a position to win two seats and the Opposition BJP one.

However, the contest for the fourth seat spiced up after media baron Subhash Chandra filed his papers as an Independent candidate.

He is backed by the BJP and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), and despite having the support of 33 MLAs of both parities needs eight more votes. A candidate requires 41 votes for victory.

On the other hand, the Congress is claiming the support of 126 MLAs, exuding confidence of winning three seats but it needs the backing of Independent legislators and those of other parties to win a third seat.

The Congress currently has 108 legislators in the 200-member state Assembly and needs 123 votes to win three seats. The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) with two MLAs has extended support to the ruling party.

The party is also claiming the support of 13 Independents and one Rashtriya Lok Dal MLA, who is currently a state minister. Fearing horse-trading, the Congress on June 2 shifted its MLAs and some of the Independent legislators supporting it to an Udaipur resort. They are expected to return Jaipur on Thursday, a day ahead of the polling.

Meanwhile, the BJP too shifted its MLAs to a Jaipur hotel in the name of a "training camp". The BJP has also given a complaint to the Election Commission of India and Enforcement Directorate accusing the Congress of horse trading.

The Congress has fielded Mukul Wasnik, Pramod Tiwari and Randeep Surjewala for the polls while the BJP has chosen as its official candidate former minister Ghanshyam Tiwari, who earlier was an open critic of former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.

Amid allegations of horse-trading attempts, Subhash Chandra increased worries of the ruling party on Tuesday by claiming that eight MLAs will cross vote in his favour.

However, the government chief whip in the state Assembly, Mahesh Joshi, had claimed that all party candidates will win.

"When the numbers are with us, then from where will the independent candidate get votes? Looking at the possibility of horse-trading attempts, our party has given a complaint to the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Election Commission of India," a Congress MLA said on Thursday.

A BJP spokesperson also expressed confidence that party candidate Ghanshyam Tiwari and media baron Subhash Chandra will emerge victorious. "We are confident of the victory and it will be clear in the results tomorrow," he said.

Despite claiming the support of 126 MLAs, enough to win three seats, the ruling Congress this time has faced a difficult time keeping its flock together with some of the party legislators and independents expressing their resentment against the government.

The six legislators who had defected to the Congress from the BSP said they did not get due respect in the party and the government.

They initially avoided going to Udaipur but after meeting CM Ashok Gehlot on Saturday night, they changed their mind and went to the resort there on Sunday.

To mount pressure on the six MLAs, the BSP issued a whip on June 4, directing them to vote for the independent candidate, and not to the Congress or the BJP nominees.

One of the 13 independent legislators has been away from the Congress camp while the CPI (M) having two MLAs is yet to clear its stand.

After winning two seats, the Congress will have 26 surplus votes, 15 short of the required 41 to win the third seat.

On the other hand, BJP has 71 MLAs. Three MLAs backing Chandra belong to the RLP. The RLP is headed by Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal, a former BJP leader.

After the victory of the party candidate, the BJP will be left with 30 surplus votes, which will go to Subhash Chandra.

The polling will take place from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday in the Assembly building and the counting will start from 5 pm.

There are 10 seats of the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan and currently the BJP has seven and the Congress three MPs.

The elections to the four seats are taking place as BJP's Omprakash Mathur, K J Alphons, Ramkumar Verma and Harshardhan Singh Dungarpur are going to complete their term on July 4.

The other other three Rajya Sabha MPs of the BJP are Kirodi Lal, Bhupendra Yadav (Union minister) and Rajendra Gehlot.

The Congress Rajya Sabha MPs from Rajasthan are former PM Manmohan Singh, party general Secretary K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi. 

Image: PTI