News Analysis India

Tag: Rajya Sabha bypoll

  • Madhya Pradesh: Congress not to field candidate for RS bypoll; BJP’s Murugan likely to be elected unopposed

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: Union minister L Murugan is likely to be elected unopposed in the Rajya Sabha bypoll from Madhya Pradesh next month as the main opposition Congress has decided not to field its candidate.

    The BJP on Saturday announced Murugan’s name for the bypoll will be held on October 4.

    The vacancy emerged in Madhya Pradesh after the then Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot resigned following his appointment as Karnataka governor in July this year.

    Talking to PTI on Sunday, MP Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta said, “We are not going to field a candidate. MP party chief and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Kamal Nathji has decided not to field any candidate for the RS bypoll in the state.”

    A senior state BJP leader expressed confidence that Murugan would have a comfortable entry to the Rajya Sabha.

    Before Murugan’s name was announced, the name of BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha’s national president Lal Singh Arya, as well as of senior party leaders Kailash Vijaywargiya and Uma Bharti were doing the rounds for the seat in the Upper House of Parliament, according to party insiders.

    In the 230-seat MP Assembly, the BJP has 125 MLAs, while the Congress has 95.

    Besides, two seats are held by the Bahujan Samaj Party, one by the Samajwadi Party and there are four Independents, while three seats are lying vacant Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats in the state, the BJP currently has seven and the Congress three.

    Right now, the BJP Rajya Sabha members from the state are M J Akbar, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ajay Pratap Singh, Kailash Soni, Sumer Singh Solanki and Sampatiya Uike.

    The Congress’s members to the Upper House of Parliament from the state are Digvijaya Singh, Vivek Tankha and Rajmani Patel.

    As per the Election Commission, the last date of filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha bypoll is September 22, and last date of withdrawal of nomination is September 27.

     

  • TMC nominates Sushmita Dev for Rajya Sabha bypoll

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday named Sushmita Dev, who recently joined the party after quitting the Congress, as its candidate for bypoll to a Rajya Sabha seat. The seat in the state fell vacant after Manas Bhunia quit the upper house having won assembly elections from Sabang in Paschim Medinipur.

    We are extremely pleased to nominate @SushmitaDevAITC to the Upper House of the Parliament.@MamataOfficial’s vision to empower women and ensure their maximum participation in politics shall help our society to achieve much more!
    — All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) September 14, 2021
    Bypoll to six Rajya Sabha seats, including the one in Bengal, will be held on October 4. “We are extremely pleased to nominate @SushmitaDevAITC to the Upper House of the Parliament. @MamataOfficial’s vision to empower women and ensure their maximum participation in politics shall help our society to achieve much more!” the party tweeted.

    Dev, who was one of the national spokespersons of the grand old party and its women’s wing chief, switched over to the Mamata Banerjee-led camp last month. She has been assigned the job of looking after party’s functioning in Assam and Tripura.

    Dev, a prominent face in Tripura politics where the TMC is trying to get foothold before the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2013, was overwhelmed with TMC’s announcement. 

    “I am extremely grateful to Mamatadi and Abhishek (Banerjee). I don’t know whether I deserve it or not, but I will do my best to take party’s vision forward. It is great to see that she (Mamata) wants more women in Parliament,” Sushmita said. 

    According to political observers, the TMC’s nomination is significant as Sushmita has been campaigning in Assam and Tripura with a goal to expand the party’s influence in the northeast.

  • Trinamool Congress nominates Jawhar Sircar for Rajya Sabha by-election

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday nominated former bureaucrat Jawhar Sircar as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by-election in the state.

    The Election Commission had on July 16 said that bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal vacated by Dinesh Trivedi earlier this year will be held on August 9.

    “We are delighted to nominate Jawhar Sircar in the Upper House of Parliament,” a party statement said.

    Sircar spent nearly 42 years in public service and was also the former CEO of Prasar Bharati, the ruling party in the state said.

    “His contribution to the public service shall help us serve our country even better,” it said.

    Reacting to his nomination, Sircar said, “I was a bureaucrat. I am not a political person but I would work for development of the people and raise the issues concerning the masses in parliament,” he said.

    The bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from the state will be held if the opposition BJP fields its candidate for the same, otherwise, the TMC candidate will be declared elected unopposed.