Ahmedabad(Gujarat): Ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat on June 19, Congress MLA Brijesh Merja on Friday resigned from the assembly membership.
The Assembly secretariat confirmed that Speaker Rajendra Trivedi has accepted the resignation of Merja, who was elected from the Morbi seat.
He has become the third Congress legislator to quit in the last three days. Before quitting as a legislator, Merja also resigned from the primary membership of the Congress.
Two other Congress MLAs, Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary, resigned on Wednesday evening, Trivedi had said on Thursday.
Merja is the eight Congress MLA to quit the assembly membership since March
Earlier, in March also, five MLAs of the Congress had resigned. In the 182-member state Assembly, the ruling BJP has 103 MLAs and the opposition Congress now has 66 legislators.
Names of five candidates - three from the BJP and two from the Congress - were recently announced for elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
The BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin, while the Congress has fielded senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki for the polls. (PTI)
Read: Gujarat: Two Congress MLAs resign ahead of Rajya Sabha polls
