KOLKATA: Six candidates, including Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi, is in the fray for the election to five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal, official sources here said.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has fielded four candidates--Nadimul Haque, who was renominated, Subhasish Chakraborty, Abir Biswas and Santunu Sen -- has announced its support to Congress' Singhvi for the fifth seat.
Senior CPIM leader Rabin Deb is contesting as the Left Front candidate for the fifth seat.
Election for the Rajya Sabha seats will be held on March 23, the sources said.
A candidate requires 49 votes to win a Rajya Sabha seat from the state.
The Congress has 42 MLAs in West Bengal Legislative Assembly while the Left Front had 32 legislators, but two of them joined the TMC.
Election to the five Rajya Sabha seats from the state was necessitated as the terms of Kunal Ghosh, Bibek Gupta and Nadimul Haque of the TMC and Tapan Sen of CPI(M) will end on April 2.
Mukul Roy, who quit the TMC and joined the BJP last year, has already resigned from the Rajya Sabha.
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