NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JUNE 18
The ruling BJP and opposition Congress in Gujarat held meetings of their MLAs for the second consecutive day on Thursday to discuss and finalise their strategy for Friday’s elections for four Rajya Sabha seats.
Since each vote is crucial, both parties are leaving no stone unturned to make sure that no MLA makes any mistake in writing numbers on the ballot paper as an error would invalidate that vote.
MLAs will be voting to elect four candidates to the Upper House of Parliament. Five candidates, three from the BJP and two from the Congress, are in the fray.
While voting will take place on Friday between 9 am and 4 pm, counting will commence at 5 pm.
The BJP’s meeting-cum-training session was held in Gandhinagar in the presence of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and central party observers Bhupender Yadav and Ashish Shelar, and it continued till late in the night.
The Congress also held a similar training session for its 60-odd MLAs at a five-star hotel near the Ahmedabad airport.
Though Sharad Pawar’s NCP had issued a whip to its lone MLA, Kandhal Jadeja, to vote for the Congress, he, too, attended the BJP’s training session on Thursday, giving a clear signal about his choice.
Notably, the MLA from Kutiyana in Porbandar had already made it clear in March that he will vote for the BJP.
While the lone independent MLA, Jignesh Mevani, has already announced his support to the Congress, all eyes are now on two Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) MLAs – Chhotu Vasava and his son Mahesh, who have not yet opened their cards.
In the election to the Upper House of Parliament, each MLA is required to write 1, 2, 3, and so on against candidates’ name on the ballot paper. The numbers indicate the preference of vote.
Elections for four vacant seats became necessary after the BJP decided to field a third candidate, taking the number of nominees in the fray to five.
While the Congress has fielded Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki, the BJP has given tickets to Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramilaben Bara, and Narhari Amin.
If Congress fails to garner required votes, it will be Solanki who would lose for being the second preference.
If the BJP fails to garner required numbers, it will be Amin who would lose out.
However, Amin has exuded confidence about winning the third seat for the BJP.
“Our three candidates will win the polls as we have got a sufficient number of votes,” Union minister and BJP leader Purshottam Rupala said.
Since March, as many as eight Congress MLAs have resigned from the assembly.
Gujarat Congress in-charge Rajiv Satav landed here on Thursday and gave his guidance to the remaining 65 MLAs about the entire voting process.
Sources revealed that two MLAs – Santok Arethia and Shiva Bhuriya – have increased party’s worries as they faltered in writing 1 and 2 during the mock poll.
“Both these MLAs were later on given intensive training so that they do not make any mistake tomorrow during polling. We are confident of winning both the seats,” said Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.
The 182-member Assembly currently has an effective strength of 172. The BJP has 103 MLAs, while the Congress”s tally stands at 65 after the resignation of eight MLAs since March.
Ten seats are vacant – two due to court cases and eight due to the resignation of Congress MLAs.
