The elections for 34 seats in the Rajya Sabha are being held on 16th March, with voting and counting taking place on the same day. The elections are biennial and include seats from Maharashtra (7), Odisha (4), Tamil Nadu (6), West Bengal (5), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (2), Haryana (2), Himachal Pradesh (1), and Telangana (2).
The NDA currently holds 134 seats in the 234-member Upper House and is set to increase its numbers, while the INDIA opposition bloc has about 80 members.
In Bihar, the NDA is confident of winning all five seats. The opposition has nominated Nitish Kumar from JD(U), BJP’s Nitin Nabin, Upendra Kushwaha from RLM, Union Minister Ram Nath Thakur from JD(U), and BJP’s state general secretary Shivesh Kumar. JD(U) minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said that the NDA leaders are confident of a clean sweep.
The RJD, on the other hand, has nominated Amrendra Dhari Singh and is banking on the support of AIMIM’s five MLAs. Tejashwi Yadav met AIMIM state president Akhtarul Iman, who confirmed that his party will support the RJD candidate.
The Odisha situation has turned dramatic. Congress gave a show-cause notice to MLA Dasarathi Gamang as he went missing. Two men from Odisha were arrested in Bengaluru for entering a resort where Congress MLAs were staying and approaching one of them with a blank cheque.
Congress leader Ashok Kumar Das said that MLAs were offered crores of rupees to cross-vote. The BJP has shifted its MLAs to Paradip for a session on voting procedures in the Rajya Sabha, while BJD chief Naveen Patnaik has been meeting his party MLAs to ensure that there is no cross-voting.
In Haryana, Congress MLAs were shifted from resorts in Kufri to Kasauli. BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Congress’s Karamvir Singh Boudh, and Independent candidate Satish Nandal are contesting for two seats.
Several states have already witnessed candidates being declared to be elected unopposed. In Maharashtra, six candidates of the ruling alliance Mahayuti and NCP President Sharad Pawar are likely to get elected unopposed. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, six candidates are likely to get elected unopposed, including DMK’s Tiruchi Siva and J Constantine Ravindran, Congress’s M Christopher Tilak, DMDK’s LK Sudeesh, AIADMK’s M Thambidurai, and PMK’s Anbumani Ramadoss.
In Himachal Pradesh, Congress leader Anurag Sharma is the only candidate. Telangana has already elected Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy unopposed. In Chhattisgarh, Congress’s Phulo Devi Netam and BJP’s Laxmi Verma have been elected unopposed. In Assam, BJP leaders Jogen Mohan and Terash Gowala and UPPL’s Pramod Boro were also elected unopposed.
In West Bengal, five candidates are in the running: TMC leaders Babul Supriyo, Rajeev Kumar, Menaka Guruswamy and actress Koel Mallick, along with BJP’s Rahul Sinha.
