JAIPUR: The fight for the fourth seat in the Rajya Sabha elections in Rajasthan is getting messier as both the Congress and the BJP are now using legal tricks to win the seat. These moves are being seen as an attempt to prevent any cross-voting by their party MLAs.
Anticipating horse-trading, the BJP first complained to the ED about the use of black money by Congress and demanded immediate action. Soon, Congress sent a letter to the CEC and made serious allegations against BJP-backed Independent candidate Subhash Chandra.
The Congress letter on horse-trading and misuse of money in the Rajya Sabha elections comes a day after Subhash Chandra, in a press conference, said that he has received the support of "4 more MLAs". He also said that "eight people who will be cross-voting are from the Congress." From these claims the Congress argues that it is clear that the BJP and Subhash Chandra are doing horse-trading and the basis of horse-trading is money. The Congress also alleges that there is fear of force and central government agencies - ED, CBI, Income Tax etc. being misused to ensure cross-voting for Subhash Chandra.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, the Deputy Chief Whip Mahendra Chaudhary expressed concerns regarding horse-trading after Subhash Chandra's statement. In his letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Chaudhary claims that black money and central agencies can be misused in the coming Rajya Sabha elections. He has also demanded legal action against independent candidate Subhash Chandra, the leader of BJP Legislature Party and BJP State President to prevent possible horse-trading.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the BJP has alleged misuse of official machinery, resources and phone tapping of MLAs and has demanded a special probe. With the BJP also writing to the ED and the Election Commission, the allegations and counter-allegations over horse-trading are now dominating the polls.
With both the parties haunted by fears of horse-trading, they are trying to put pressure on each other and are resorting to investigative agencies. While BJP has written a letter to the Election Commission and the Enforcement Directorate under the Central Government, the Congress has given a written complaint to the Election Commission and the Anti Corruption Bureau of the state regarding the possibility of horse-trading in the Rajya Sabha elections.
The mess over the Rajya Sabha polls has erupted due to the messy maths for the fourth seat. The Congress with its 108 MLAs in the 200-member State Assembly is set to win two Seats. After winning the two spots, it will have 26 surplus votes, 15 short of the required 41 to win the third Seat. Congress leaders claim the support of 126 MLAs, including 108 from the party but it needs at least 123 MLAs to win three Seats. But the Congress also has the support of 13 Independents, two of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), two of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and one of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
The BJP has 71 MLAs in the State Assembly, enough to get one seat comfortably. After that, it will have 30 surplus votes, which along with three of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) led by Hanuman Beniwal are set to go to Subhash Chandra. He will, however, need eight more votes to win the seat. Though Chandra has 33 votes, he is short of eight MLAs to win.
To protect its MLAs from being lured by the BJP, the Congress had shifted them to a hotel in Udaipur on June 2. The BJP has also shifted its MLAs to a resort on the outskirts of Jaipur in the name of a training camp.