Bypolls To Two Gujarat Rajya Sabha Seats Today; Easy Victory Predicted For BJP's Jaishankar, Thakor

BJP has fielded External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and OBC leader Juglaji Thakor, while the Congress has nominated Chandrika Chudasama and Gaurav Pandya.

Image courtesy: AFP

New Delhi: Bypolls to two Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat is all set to take place on Friday (today), promising an easy victory for the ruling BJP. Voting for the two seats will be held between 9 am and 4 pm and the counting will be taken up at 5 pm. The bypolls to the two Upper House seats were necessitated after BJP president Amit Shah and party leader Smriti Irani were elected to the Lok Sabha, causing the vacancies. While the BJP has fielded External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and OBC leader Juglaji Thakor, the Congress has nominated Chandrika Chudasama and Gaurav Pandya. Given its strength in the 182-member Assembly, the BJP is set to win both the seats for which voting will be held separately as per the Election Commissions (EC) notification. Out of the total 182 MLAs, 175 legislators are qualified to exercise their franchise this time. The BJP's strength stands at 100, followed by 71 MLAs of the Congress. Other MLAs eligible to cast their vote are two from the Bharatiya Tribal Party, one from the NCP and an Independent. Since elections on the two seats will be held separately, a candidate needs to garner a simple 50 per cent votes to win. In the present scenario, each candidate needs 88 votes to secure victory. According to election officials, three MLAs will not be able to cast their vote in the bypolls as they were disqualified for various reasons in the recent past. Also, four seats are lying vacant after their sitting MLAs resigned on getting elected to the Lok Sabha. On the eve of the bypolls, Congress MLAs attended their legislative party meeting at a resort in Banaskantha district Thursday, said party leaders. As many as 65 Congress legislators were shifted to the resort Wednesday night to foil any 'poaching' attempt by the ruling BJP ahead of the voting Friday, they said.