New Delhi:
The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party is set to gain big from the crucial Rajya Sabha polls being held on Friday. The polls are being conducted to fill the 58 seats of the Upper House out of which 33 candidates from 10 states have already been elected unopposed on March 15.
Out of the total 58 seats, the BJP is guaranteed 28 but it will still remain well short of the majority mark of 123 seats in the Rajya Sabha. The voting will start at 9 am and end at 4 pm. Counting of votes will begin from 5 pm on Friday and the results will be declared the same evening.
Here is the complete state-wise list of Rajya Sabha elections:
Uttar Pradesh
Ten seats are at stake in Uttar Pradesh with a triangular contest between the BJP, the SP and the BSP.
The BJP has fielded 8 candidates: Arun Jaitley, Ashok Bajpai, Vijaya Pal Singh Tomar, Sakal Deep Rajbhar, Kanta Kardam, Anil Jain, Harnath Singh Yadav and GVL Narsimha Rao.
Jaya Bachchan is Samajwadi Party’s candidate while Bhim Rao Ambedkar is fighting on BSP’s ticket.
Anil Agarwal, an Independent candidate supported by BJP is also in the fray.
A candidate will need 37 votes to win the elections. The BJP and alliance have 324 seats while the Samajwadi Party has 47 seats, 10 more than the seats needed. The contest of BSP candidate has become interesting as the party has only 19 seats.
The Congress with seven MLAs has pledged to support the BSP and the party will also get the remaining 10 seats of the SP. However, it still remains one short of the numbers needed to win.
West Bengal
Five Rajya Sabha seats are at stake in Mamata Banerjee’s bastion. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded four candidates: Nadimul Haq, Subhashish Chakraborty, Abir Biswas and Santunu Sen. While Congress’s candidate is Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rabin Deb is CPM’s man of straw.
A candidate will need 50 votes to get elected and with 213 MLAs, TMC is likely to send all of the four candidates it has fielded. The Congress with 42 MLAs will need 13 surplus votes of the TMC to send Singhavi to the Upper House.
Telangana
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will be able to send all its three candidates – J Santosh Kumar, B Lingiah Yadav and B Prakash Mudiraj – as the party has enough numbers.
Thirty seats are required for each candidate and the TRS has 91 MLAs as opposed to Congress’s 12.
Maharashtra
All the 6 candidates – BJP’s Naryan Rane, Prakash Javdekar, V Murlidharan, Congress’s Kumar Ketkar, NCP’s Vandana Chavhan and Shiv Sena’s Anil Desai – has been declared elected without any contest.
TRS (3): J Santosh Kumar, B Lingiah Yadav and B Prakash Mudiraj
Jharkhand
Two seats with a contest between the BJP (43+ AJSU 4), the Congress (7), the JMM (19). Each candidate needs 28 votes and it won’t be easy for the BJP to elect both its candidates.
Sameer Urnav and Pradeep Kumar Santhalia are BJP’s candidates while Dheeraj Sahu is the Congress’s man of straw.
Votes needed: 28
BJP: 43 + AJSU 4; JMM: 19; Congress: 7; JVM(P): 2; BSP, MCC, CPI ML have 1 each; Independents: 3
Andhra Pradesh
There is no contest in Andhra and out of the total three seats, TDP’s CM Ramesh and K Ravindra Kumar and YSRC’s V Prabhakar Reddy will be elected.
Karnataka
There is a direct contest with the ruling Congress and BJP on the 4 seats of the South Indian state.
The Congress (132) has three candidates - L Hanumanthiah, Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrashekhar. The BJP (46) and JD(S) (30) has fielded Rajeev Chandrashekhar and BM Farooq respectively.
Chhattisgarh
BJP’s Saroj Pande and Congress’s Lekhram Sahu are locked in a contest in Chhattisgarh. The state is ruled by the BJP and the party has 49 MLAs, three more than required 46.
Total MLAs: 90; Votes needed 46; BJP: 49; Congress: 39; BSP: 1 and Independent: 1
Madhya Pradesh
The BJP’s Thaverchand Gehlot, Dharmendra Pradahan, Ajay Pratap Singh, Kailash Soni and the Congress’ Rajmani Patel will get elected without any contest.
Bihar
JD(U)’s Vashishta Narayan Singh and Mahendra Prasad, BJP’s Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, RJD’s Manoj Jha and Ashfaq Karim and Congress’s Akhilesh Prasad Singh are set to get elected with any contest.
Gujarat
There is no contest on four seats of Gujarat and both BJP and Congress will elect two candidates each. Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Bhai Mandviya are BJP’s candidates while Ami Yagyanik and Naran Rathwa are Congress’s candidates.
Haryana
There is no contest in Haryana and the ruling party BJP will send Lt General D P Vatsa (Retired) to the Upper House.
Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand
Two seats are at stake and the BJP has enough numbers to send union minister J P Nadda (Himachal) and Anil Baluni (Uttarakhand) to the Upper House.
Odisha
No contest on three seats of Odisha and BJD’s Prashant Nanda, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Achuyta Samanta will get elected unopposed.
Rajasthan
Three seats are at the stake in the BJP ruled state. Without any contest, the saffron party is guaranteed to send all its three candidates - Bhupendra Yadav, Dr Kirodi Lal Meena and Madan Lal Saini – to the Upper House.
