Rajya Sabha polls 2020: Congress geared up for high-stake battle in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh

Published : Jun 18, 2020, 10:40 PM IST

The Rajya Sabha election is scheduled on 19 June, with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) expected to inch closer to a majority. The election for the Upper House of the Parliament is crucial as the outcome would impact the upcoming monsoon session, helping the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) push its legislative agendas.

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha elections are scheduled to be held on Friday for 18 seats across seven states - Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur and Meghalaya.

The polling will begin at 9 am and to be concluded at 4 pm. The counting of votes will be done on the same day by 5 pm. The polls were originally scheduled for March 26, which got deferred because of coronavirus outbreak.

The election for the Upper House is crucial as it is going to play a vital role in the upcoming monsoon session, in a way to help the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to push it's legislative agenda.

Among the states, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to see high-stake battle as both the national rivals Congress and BJP have alleged horse trading and resort politics.

In Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP and Congress have announced two candidates each for three seats in the state. As per the numbers, BJP is likely to win 2 seats, while Congress will have to settle with one.

While Jyotiraditya Scindia of BJP and Digvijay Singh of Congress are likely to win in polls comfortably, the other two candidates of both the parties are expected to slug it out for the third seat.

"The current CM of Madhya Pradesh has accepted the fact that the fall of Congress Government in the state was decided by BJP's central leadership. The way BJP insults sentiments of people, by making an elected Government fall, they always adapt corrupt practices for that. In the same way, now BJP is trying to allure MLAs for Rajya Sabha seats, but we are sure for our votes," said Jitu Patwari, working President of MPCC Chief.

In March, Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress party, taking 22 MLAs with him, to join hands with BJP. This has led to the resignation of Kamal Nath as MP Chief Minister.

In Gujarat, amid the high-voltage political drama, Congress had shifted some of its MLAs to a resort to guard them from the alleged "alluring" attempts of the ruling party.

Congress also approached Election Commission demanding necessary actions against BJP for "blatant misuse" of Government machinery and power in the biennial elections.

Congress has fielded it's two candidates, Shaktisingh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki, while BJP proposed the name of its 3 candidates for the battle of 4 seats in Gujarat. Just before the elections, Congress hit by a series of resignations, due to which it has become difficult for the party to even win a second Rajya Sabha seat.

Meanwhile in Rajasthan, Congress is incumbent and in a safe position to win two out of three seats of Rajya Sabha. Soon after the reports of resentment came in, Congress moved it's MLAs to a luxury hotel in a way to keep the party intact. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot even filed a complaint with Special Operations Group to probe the alleged attempts to topple the state government by poaching Congress legislators through money transfers.

Congress has nominated it's General Secretary incharge KC Venugopal from Rajasthan along with Neeraj Dangi, which are supposedly to be win by the party as the chances of cross-voting appears to be thin.

However, NDA is likely to do well in nearly half of the seats but Congress and other opposition parties could gain from Jharakhand as well.

While in Karnataka, Congress' leader Mallikarjun Kharge has already been elected along with JD(S) chief HD Devegowda.

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