The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its 9 candidates for the by-elections to be held on 12 Rajya Sabha seats. The list includes the names of many big leaders. The BJP has declared Union Minister George Kurien as its candidate from Madhya Pradesh and Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan. Bar Council of India Chairman, senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra has been made the candidate from Bihar. There are preparations to send Rajib Bhattacharya to the Rajya Sabha from Tripura. Apart from this, the BJP has made Kiran Chaudhary its candidate from Haryana.
Who did BJP field from where?
From Assam- Mission Ranjan Das and Rameshwar Teli
From Bihar- Manan Kumar Mishra
From Haryana- Kiran Chowdhary
From Madhya Pradesh- George Kurien
From Maharashtra- Dhairysheel Patil
From Odisha- Mamta Mohanta
From Rajasthan- Ravneet Singh Bittu
From Tripura- Rajeev Bhattacharjee
Recently, Haryana MLA Kiran Chaudhary resigned from the membership of the Legislative Assembly. Chaudhary, who left the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about two months ago, confirmed her resignation on Tuesday. By-election is being held for the only Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana. This seat has been vacated by Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak. The date for assembly elections in Haryana has been announced. Voting will be held on October 1 in a single phase on all 90 seats of the state and the results will be declared on October 4.
Besides, the BJP has declared Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurien as its candidate for the by-election to one Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh. After entering politics with the BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Kurien has been an organisation man in the Kerala BJP unit for the past four decades. Kurien will file his nomination papers here on Wednesday. August 21 is the last date for filing nominations for the by-election to one seat in Madhya Pradesh that fell vacant due to the resignation of BJP leader and Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Rajya Sabha.
48-year-old Ravneet Bittu left the Congress and joined the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections. He contested from Ludhiana in Punjab as a BJP candidate but lost to Congress leader Amarinder Singh Raja Waring. Bittu is currently the Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries.
By-elections are being held for a total of 12 seats
By-elections are scheduled for 12 Rajya Sabha seats next month. After this, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is expected to get a clear majority in the Upper House. This will help the party to pass key bills like the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. Currently, the BJP has 87 MPs in the 229-member Upper House and its allies have 105 MPs. Including six nominated members, who usually vote in favor of the government, the number of NDA MPs becomes 111, which is four less than the majority figure of 115.
Congress has 26 members in the Upper House and with the addition of 58 members of its allies, the number of members of the opposition alliance has increased to 84. The major neutral parties include YSR Congress Party with 11 members and BJD with eight members. Elections will be held on September 3 for 12 vacant Rajya Sabha seats from nine states.
The BJP and its allies are expected to win 11 of the 12 seats up for election, taking the NDA’s strength to 122 in the 245-member House. Four seats from Jammu and Kashmir are vacant in the Upper House as the Union Territory is yet to get its first assembly. This has reduced the effective strength of the Rajya Sabha to 241. 10 Rajya Sabha seats have fallen vacant due to the election of sitting members, including Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Sarbananda Sonowal and Jyotiraditya Scindia, to the Lok Sabha. Bypolls are also due for two seats in Telangana and Odisha.