The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to initiate the process of pending Rajya Sabha election soon, as Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who is also chairman of Rajya Sabha spoke to the ECI about polls for 18 vacancies in seven states which were deferred after the COVID-19 outbreak. The 18 vacancies includes two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand apart from four vacancies each in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and one each in Meghalaya and Manipur.
Naidu also reviewed the readiness of secretariats of both houses of Parliament amid lockdown and corona transition, so that the meeting of the standing committees of Parliament related to various departments can be done smoothly.
After Rajya Sabha chairman spoke to ECI regarding pending Rajya Sabha election, the ECI enquired about Rajya Sabha election preparedness from Chief Electoral Officer Rahul Purwar. Purwar, a 1999 batch IAS officer was appointed as Chief Electoral Officer in February this year. Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha secretary, Mahendra Prasad said, “We have come to know that the Election Commission of India (ECI) team has enquired from Chief Electoral Officer Rahul Purwar about holding Rajya Sabha election.”
Sources said that the ECI is going to start the process of holding Rajya Sabha election once lockdown is lifted. The ECI has asked its state counterpart to look for various processes under which election can be carried out in State. Elections to 18 Rajya Sabha seats that were scheduled to take place on March 26 were deferred due to the Coronavirus pandemic, as per Election Commission of India (ECI) directive on March 24.
For two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand the main fight is between JMM, BJP and Congress. JMM candidate Shibu Soren is likely to be elected unopposed, while for the second seat BJP state president Deepak Prakash and Congress candidate Shahzada Anwar are in fray. With the death of Rajendra Prasad Singh the Congress MLA from Bermo the strength of House has reduced to 79 as Chief Minister Hemant Soren has already vacated his Dumka seat.
For winning the election, JMM requires the support 27 MLAs and the party has support of 29 MLAs in such situation JMM Chief Shibu Soren is sure to enter Rajya Sabha. After the first preference 27 MLAs, 52 MLAs are left and then any party needs the support of 27 MLAs as first preference for winning the election. BJP has 25 MLAs and including Marandi the strength the party is 26.
The party requires the support of only one MLA for sailing the Rajya Sabha election. The party also has support of independent legislators including Jamshedpur east MLA Saryu Roy for supporting Prakash. Roy the former minister in Raghubar Das Cabinet had defeated Das in last Assembly election. The saffron party has also got support of Amit Yadav the independent MLA from Barkatha. BJP ally AJSU party which has two MLAs have also supported Prakash.