Ahmedabad: Chief Whip of Congress party in Gujarat, Shailesh Parmar today in a statement said that his party has issued whip to all Congress MLAs to give first preference vote to party candidate Ahmed Patel in Rajya Sabha polls scheduled to take place on August 8. He said party MLAs are asked not to choose None Of The Above(NOTA) option. Choosing NOTA will also be considered breach of whip. He said party MLAs are conveyed the repercussions of breach of whip.

Yesterday in a press conference in Ahmedabad, Congress had told media persons that Congress MLAs would cast votes in favor of party candidate Ahmed Patel by choosing him as first preference. Party MLAs will not choose second and third preference as Congress has fielded only one candidate.

State party president Bharatsinh Solanki said two candidates Amit Shah(BJP) and Ahmed Patel(Congress) will be victorious in 8 August Rajya Sabha polls while there will be contest between Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput, both BJP candidates.

Congress candidate needs 45 MLAs support to win one seat of Rajya Sabha. The party has kept 44 MLAs in resort near Bangalore in Congress-ruled Karnataka state. The party is sure about support of two NCP MLAs, one JDU MLA and 1 GPP MLA to cross the figure of 45.

Party has conveyed its MLAs that if they cast vote against party whip, they will be disqualified for 6 years and therefore not be able to contest next two assembly polls.

However BJP has termed this as Congress’s lie. There’s no provision of compliance of party whip in Rajya Sabha polls. MLAs can choose candidates as per their wish. In worst case one can be suspended from the party, but not as MLA and one can’t be disqualified based on his/her vote in Rajya Sabha in any circumstances. There’s no such rule. There’s no past example to suggest this.

DeshGujarat