Guwahati: Voting for the Rajya Sabha is underway in four states. The voting began at 9 am in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana and will conclude at 4 pm.
It may be mentioned that forty-one candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Telangana were elected unopposed after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced yesterday.
However, the fate of several key leaders will be decided at 5 pm when the ballots are counted. The fates of major politicians such as Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala, and Mukul Wasnik will be decided in the evening.
In Maharashtra, the Congress has fielded Imran Pratapgarhi for the elections while the NCP has selected Praful Patel. Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar of the Shiv Sena have been allowed a run in the polls.
The MVA has relocated all of its MLAs to a Mumbai hotel fearing horse-trading. The alliance, on the other hand, is optimistic about winning four seats in the state.
The BJP has fielded Dr Anil Bonde, Piyush Goyal and Dhananjay Mahadik from the state. Surprisingly, there will be seven candidates vying for the state’s six seats.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed confidence in all four Maha Vikas Aghadi candidates to win the Rajya Sabha elections.
Two seats in Haryana are up for election. Both BJP and Congress members were relocated to resorts to reduce the risk of poaching.
The BJP-JJP alliance has relocated their MLAs to a resort in Chandigarh, while the Congress leaders have been relocated to a city resort.
A senior Congress leader Ajay Maken has been nominated by the Congress, while the BJP has nominated former minister Krishan Lal Panwar.
The JD(S) has fielded entrepreneur and social activist Kupendra Reddy as its first candidate in Karnataka’s Rajya Sabha election.
Mansoor Ali Khan was the second candidate fielded by the Congress to take on the JD(S) and its attempt to send Kupendra Reddy to the Rajya Sabha.
Six candidates are running for four Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka’s upcoming Rajya Sabha elections on June 10.
Similarly, resort politics took centre stage in Rajasthan, with Congress MLAs split between Udaipur and Jaipur.