Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman polls: NDA, Opposition both confident of sweeping election

While both the NDA government and the Opposition are confident about their win in the deputy chair polls, this election will be a test of Opposition's unity after their loss in no-confidence motion.
File photo of Rajya Sabha. (File| PTI)
File photo of Rajya Sabha. (File| PTI)

NEW DELHI: Election to the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman may be headed for a photo finish today with joint Opposition candidate B K Hariprasad and NDA’s Harivansh Singh filing nominations and both camps claiming to have the numbers in their favour.

Congress leader Hariprasad's name was finalised after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) decided not to field Vandana Chavan, the front-runner till Tuesday.

While the BJP is confident of having the support of 126 members, including 9 MPs from BJD, 2 from YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and 6 from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Opposition maintains the exact numbers can be seen on the floor of the House. The NDA counts YSRCP to be on its side but the party’s Vijayasai Reddy said party MPs would not vote for Harivansh. Shiv Sena has also extended the support of their three MPs for the election.

The Opposition has 115 in its kitty. However, there is no clarity if the 4 DMK members would be present for voting in the wake of the demise of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. BJD with 9 MPs holds the key to victory. JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar rang up Bahujan Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh also spoke to Patnaik. Late in the evening, Patnaik said his party would support the JD(U) candidate. PDP with two MPs has decided to abstain. Aam Admi Party (AAP) also played tantrums with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh saying Congress chief Rahul Gandhi should reach out to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for AAP’s three votes. Later Arvind Kejriwal announced that AAP is likely to abstain from the voting as well.

The post of the Deputy Chairman has been lying vacant since June this year following the retirement of P J Kurien, who had been elected to the Upper House on a Congress ticket from Kerala. The voting will begin at 11 am.

(With inputs from Online Desk)

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