Polling for election of 4 Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat on 27 February

Gandhinagar: Polling for election for four Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat will take place on 27 February if required. If there are as many candidates, they will be declared victorious after the last date of making nominations which is 15 February. In that case, polling will not be required.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has today declared the election programme for 56 Rajya Sabha seats in which the term of office of present members is going to end across 15 States. Among these seats, 4 are in Gujarat.

After the 27th February polling, the counting of votes will take place on the same day.

The current members of Rajya Sabha whose terms are going to expire in Gujarat are union cabinet ministers Parshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandaviya from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Naran Rathwa and Amiben Yagnik from the main opposition Congress party.

It should be mentioned that polling for Rajya Sabha seats takes place only if there are more candidates than the vacant number of seats. Generally the parties field candidates in proportion to a number of their MLAs.

Looking at the strength of the BJP in the State Assembly, it is all set to win all four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat.

Gujarat has 11 Rajya Sabha seats. The tenure of a Rajya Sabha member is 6 years. Rajya Sabha election takes place once every two years for 4 – 4 – 3 seats.

At present Congress has no Lok Sabha member from Gujarat and only 3 Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat. Soon, Congress will be left with only one Rajya Sabha seat in Gujarat, represented by the State party chief Shaktisinh Gohil. All other Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha seats shall be with BJP.  Outgoing Rajya Sabha members Amee Yagnik and Naran Rathwa’s terms will technically end on 2nd April this year. DeshGujarat