Today elections will be held on 37 Rajya Sabha seats in 10 states… voting at some places, preparations for victory at some places without competition

New Delhi: Political excitement regarding Rajya Sabha seats is at its peak in the country. On Monday, voting is to be held for 11 seats in three states, Bihar, Odisha and Haryana, while it is almost certain that candidates will be elected unopposed on 26 seats in seven states. These elections have increased political turmoil in many states, where parties are continuously making strategies to keep their respective MLAs united and prevent cross-voting.

This time the election process is going on for a total of 37 seats of Rajya Sabha. These include 7 seats in Maharashtra, 4 in Odisha, 6 in Tamil Nadu, 5 in West Bengal, 3 in Assam, 5 in Bihar, 2 in Chhattisgarh, 2 in Haryana, 1 in Himachal Pradesh and 2 in Telangana. The results of these elections will be declared on the same day on which voting takes place. At present, the ruling NDA has 134 members in the 234-member Rajya Sabha and this alliance is trying to further strengthen its numbers. Whereas the opposition alliance India Block has 80 seats.

NDA hopes for clean sweep in Bihar

There is competition for five seats in Bihar. Here NDA leaders are claiming to win all the seats with full confidence. Prominent candidates include JDU leader and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, BJP’s Nitin Nabin and RLM’s Upendra Kushwaha. Apart from this, JDU’s Union Minister Ramnath Thakur and BJP’s State General Secretary Shivesh Kumar are also in the fray. JDU leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary says that NDA is confident of winning all five seats.

According to him, frequent meetings of opposition parties show that they themselves are not sure about the outcome. On the other hand, RJD seems to be dependent on the support of AIMIM to make its candidate Amarendra Dhari Singh win. It has been told that five AIMIM MLAs can vote in favor of RJD. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has also tried to support AIMIM leaders by meeting them.

Political drama and security increased in Odisha

The elections for four seats in Odisha have taken a very interesting turn. After the sudden disappearance of a Congress MLA here, the party has issued a show cause notice to him. Meanwhile, another incident made the matter more serious. Two people were arrested in Bengaluru near the resort where Congress MLAs from Odisha were staying. It is alleged that he tried to lure the MLAs to switch parties.

Congress leaders say that some people offered to give crores of rupees to the MLAs and also threatened them if they refused. In view of this situation, BJP has sent its MLAs to Paradeep for training on the voting process. At the same time, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik is also continuously meeting his MLAs and advising them to vote according to the party line.

MLAs kept in resort in Haryana

There is competition for two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana. Here BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Congress’s Karamveer Singh Boudh and independent candidate Satish Nandal are in the fray. To win the election, each candidate will need 31 votes. To avoid cross-voting, Congress has accommodated 31 of its MLAs in a resort in Himachal Pradesh. Later he was taken to another location amid tight security. Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu is also in constant touch with the MLAs.

Interesting contest in West Bengal

The contest for five seats of West Bengal remains interesting. Here Trinamool Congress’s Babul Supriyo, former DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior lawyer Maneka Guruswamy and actress Koel Mallik are in the fray. Rahul Sinha is the candidate from BJP.

Candidates unopposed in many states

In some states the competition is almost over because the candidates there are certain to be elected unopposed. A total of seven candidates, including six candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, are going to reach Rajya Sabha without any contest. These include names like BJP’s Vinod Tawde, Maya Ivante, RPI’s Ramdas Athawale and NCP’s Parth Pawar.

A total of six candidates from DMK, Congress, AIADMK and other parties will be elected unopposed in Tamil Nadu. Anurag Sharma of Congress is the only candidate in Himachal Pradesh and it is certain that he will be elected unopposed. In Telangana, Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vem Narendra Reddy have already been elected unopposed. In Chhattisgarh and Assam too, many candidates are going to reach Rajya Sabha without any contest.