Arrival of media barons to the fray would possibly queer the pitch for Congress in two RS seats

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Nominations filed by two media barons — Subhash Chandra of Zee from Rajasthan and Kartikeya Sharma of NewsX from Haryana  — for the Rajya Sabha elections as unbiased candidates might spell hassle for the Congress in seats in Rajasthan and Haryana.  

The independents filed their candidature on Tuesday, the final day for submitting nominations.

Sources stated that issues might tilt in favour of the duo maintaining in thoughts the disquiet within the Rajasthan state unit over the nomination of candidates from outdoors, and in Haryana, the place an upset occasion MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi has been assembly BJP leaders.

The Congress was anticipating to win 10 seats in all however now it might find yourself dropping a seat in Haryana if cross-voting occurs and one other in Rajasthan if the independents resolve to vote for Subhash Chandra with the help of BJP MLAs.

The seat in Rajasthan is the place Congress has fielded Pramod Tiwari and it’ll now see a contest with Chandra’s entry. Tiwari’s candidature was backed by normal secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

In all, the elections are on for 4 seats in Rajasthan. The state meeting has 200 seats and a successful candidate would require 41 votes.

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The Congress claims that it’ll handle 123 votes (wanted to win three seats) whereas the BJP, having 71 MLAs, can win just one seat. The BJP wants 11 extra votes to win a second seat which it’s now angling for with Chandra’s arrival to the fray.

The Congress has the help of 108 MLAs, together with six BSP MLAs who merged with the Congress, 13 independents (many Gehlot supporters), two MLAs of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

There are two MLAs from the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) and three MLAs from Hanuman Beniwal’s Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP). Both are unlikely to vote for the BJP.

“With independents in the fray, things can sway to any side. It is a calculated move by the BJP keeping in mind trouble in the state unit. After winning one seat (41 MLAs), another 30 BJP MLAs will be spared and Chandra would need 11 more to win the seat. He may get the support of independents and BTP and RLP’s support to make things difficult for the Congress’ plans to win a third seat,” stated occasion sources.