Other States - Madhya Pradesh   

BJP sure of winning two Rajya Sabha seats

BHOPAL: In the Rajya Sabha biennial elections from Madhya Pradesh to be held later this month, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is sure of winning two of the three seats at stake. A contest is likely for the third seat.

The president of the State BJP, Narendra Singh Tomar, and the general secretary in charge of organisational affairs, Makhan Singh, left for New Delhi on Monday with a panel of names. The likely candidates are party’s national secretary Prabhat Jha and State unit vice-president Anil Dave.

The process of filing nomination began on Saturday. The deadline for filing papers is March 15. Scrutiny will take place on March 17 and the last date for withdrawal is 19. Polling will take place on March 26. Counting of votes will take place the same day.

The tenure of three members from the State -- Union Minister of State for Personnel Suresh Pachouri and Maulana Obaidullah Khan Azmi (both Congress) and Maya Singh (BJP) – is ending on April 9.

To ensure a candidate’s victory, at least 58 first preference votes are needed. BJP with strength of 166 in the House is certain to bag two seats. For the third seat, it would require additional first preference votes. The main Opposition Congress has 41 MLAs and requires 17 “outside votes” to retain one of the two seats it is vacating.

Therefore, the initiative to tilt the balance for the third seat lies with two Independent MLAs and members belonging to other parties.

In a House of 230 and a nominated member, besides the BJP (166) and Congress (41), the Samajwadi Party has eight MLAs, Gondwana Gantantra Party three, Rashtriya Samata Dal two, Bahujan Samaj Party two, Nationalist Congress Party one, Janata Dal (U) one, CPI (M) one, and Independents two.

The BJP is sure of four outside votes (two from Rashtriya Samata Dal and one from JD (U) and one nominated) but would find it difficult to ensure the backing of four other non-BJP MLAs for the third seat. For the Congress, it is even more difficult to strive for 17 first preference votes from MLAs belonging to other parties.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

BJP sure of winning two Rajya Sabha seats

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu