2 Congress MLAs in Gujarat resign ahead of Rajya Sabha polls
Two Indian National Congress (INC) party MLAs have resigned in Gujarat days ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in the state. The Rajya Sabha election will be held in 4 seats in the state of Gujarat on June 19. Earlier, the polls were to be held on March 26 but the date was extended in light of the nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The election will be conducted for filling four seats each in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three seats each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two seats in Jharkhand and one seat each in Manipur and Meghalaya.
The time of poll will be from 9 am to 4 pm and the counting of votes will be held on the same day. The commission also decided that the Chief Secretaries will depute a senior officer to ensure that the instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the elections. It has also appointed Chief Electoral Officer of the concerned states as observers for the election.
Earlier, the commission had announced elections to fill 55 seats in Rajya Sabha seats out of which candidates on 37 seats were elected unopposed.
The current strength of the house is 224. Out of these, the BJP has 75 members and combined NDA overall count is 88. Parties that are not part of the NDA, but are friendly to the BJP include YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and TRS — these together have 27 MPs. The Congress has 39 MPs and the opposition block with regional parties has 69 MPs. There are three independents and one nominated member. MDMK, PMK and Tamil Maanila Congress have a single member each.
