CHENNAI: Elections for six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu will be held on March 26, as the term of existing members end on April 2. Election nomination will begin on March 6, soon after the issue of notification. AIADMK’s strength will drop to 10 from 11, including Puducherry, while DMK’s will rise to seven from five, based on their Assembly strength. Of the six seats, four are held by the AIADMK, one by CPI(M), and one by the DMK. The AIADMK MPs who are going to retire are Vijila Sathyanath, Sasikala Pushpa, S Muthukaruppan and K Selvaraj. Of them, Sasikala Pushpa was expelled from AIADMK in August 2016 by the then Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, for anti-party activities.
Though she was expelled from the party, she has been considered a AIADMK member, according to the Rajya Sabha website. In this situation, Sasikala Pushpa joined the BJP on February 2 this year at the party headquarters in New Delhi. CPI(M) member TK Rengarajan was elected with the support of the AIADMK. Tiruchy Siva was elected on a DMK ticket. All six were elected in March 2014.As per the available strength of the ruling AIADMK and the Opposition DMK in the Assembly, both parties can get three Rajya Sabha seats. Hence, lobbying for the seats has begun in the camps of the ruling party and the Opposition. According to sources, more than 50 persons, including former MPs, MLAs and ministers are lobbying with the leadership for a Rajya Sabha seat.
In the DMK circle, according to reliable sources, the party has decided to offer one seat to a leading advocate of the party’s legal wing, one to a person with good influence in the western region and one to a cadre belonging to the minority community, especially Muslim. At the end of the scheduled Rajya Sabha election, of the total strength of 18 members, nine will belong to the AIADMK, seven to the DMK and one each to the MDMK and the PMK. Besides, the AIADMK has another member from Puducherry. However, the headquarters of both the AIADMK and the DMK will be busy for the next two weeks till they announce the candidates’ list for the election.
Schedule for Rajya Sabha election
Issue of notification : March 6
Last date for nomination : March 13
Scrutiny of nominations : March 16
Last date for withdrawal of nomination: March 18
Date of polling : March 26
Counting of votes : March 26