The election is important for Jyotiraditya Scindia who joined the BJP after having separated from Congress
Bhopal:
BJP candidates Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh are all ready to go to the three seats of Rajya Sabha in Madhya Pradesh even before the elections are held today.
The other congressional candidate, Phool Singh Baraiya, a Dalit leader, however, is unlikely to make it to the upper house of parliament in today’s elections.
The BJP has enough deputies to elect its two candidates, while the Legislative Party of Congress (CLP) has asked 54 of its 92 deputies to vote in favor of Digvijaya Singh. The former chief minister needs 52 votes to be elected to Rajya Sabha for the second consecutive term.
Phool Singh Baraiya, placed after Digvijaya Singh in the hierarchical order of the party, does not have the figures on his side to win.
Chief Dalit is from the Gwalior-Chambal region, where most of the 24 vacant Assembly seats in Parliament are found.
The by-election for vacant seats will take place by September. The majority of these seats are dominated by the scheduled castes.
The ruling BJP is in a comfortable position for today’s elections as it has 107 MPs and is supported by two MPs from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one MP from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and two independent.
The BJP has the support of 112 within the Assembly of 230 members whose effective strength is 206. Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki can obtain the 52 votes that each one needs for the victory.
Congressmen are expected to meet at the residence of head of state unit Kamal Nath around 8 a.m. this morning and get to the assembly on the buses for the vote, a party lawmaker said. This was decided at a meeting on Thursday, added the MP. The BJP also held meetings of groups of legislators on Thursday noon.
The election is important for Jyotiraditya Scindia who joined the BJP after separating from Congress in March of this year. 22 of his supporters also resigned from their deputy, leading to the fall of the Kamal Nath government and the return of the BJP government to the state.
A senior BJP official said that if Digvijaya Singh won at the expense of Phool Kumar Baraiya, it would benefit the BJP in the by-elections of the Assembly.
“We are going to tell the public how Digvijaya Singh seized the opportunity of a Dalit to reach the Upper House,” he said.
