Elections for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states to be held today

File image: Parliament

Rajya Sabha elections will be held for six seats in Maharashtra, four each in Rajasthan and Karnataka and two in Haryana today.

As many as 41 candidates, of the 57 seats falling vacant, have already been elected unopposed. The Rajya Sabha election will be crucial in view of the presidential elections scheduled for July 18.

Two union ministers - Nirmala Sitharaman from Karnataka and Piyush Goyal from Maharashtra- are also among Rajya Sabha candidates for Friday’s polls.

Of the 41 candidates elected unopposed, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 17 members, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has 10, and regional parties 14.

READ | 'Resort politics’ returns ahead of crucial Rajya Sabha elections on June 10

"We have appointed special observers in all the four places (states). The entire process will be videographed," chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on June 9.

This election assumes significance as the results will influence political events till 2024, according to analyst Amitabh Tiwari. This is the last big election to the Upper House before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Tiwari said. Next year, only 10 members are due for retirement, and the status quo is likely to be maintained.

In Rajasthan the Congress has fielded Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Pramod Tiwari for the Upper House. The BJP has named former state minister Ghanshyam Tiwari as its candidate, apart from supporting Zee Network’s Subhash Chandra who is contesting as an independent candidate. In Haryana, the Congress has fielded one candidate, Ajay Maken, for the two seats going to polls. The BJP has fielded Kishan Lal Panwar, besides extending support to media baron Kartikeya Sharma.

Also read |  | Rajya Sabha election results will influence political events till 2024

The latest season of what is often dubbed as ‘resort politics’ was back in  states ahead of today’s elections. As many as 70 Congress MLAs in Rajasthan are currently staying at a resort in Udaipur. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also moved its legislators to a resort in Jaipur. In Haryana, 28 of the 31 Congress lawmakers were shifted to a hotel in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur.

This growing trend of moving legislators to resorts and hotels to prevent them from being poached by others has reportedly been prompted after the BJP and its allies picked up two media barons in Rajasthan and Haryana, which is being understood as a move to spoil the Congress’s chances.

Also read | Chidambaram, Sibal, Misa Bharti among 41 elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

In Maharashtra, six members will be elected to the Rajya Sabha this time. The fight, however, is for the sixth seat, between Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar and BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik.