Following the unopposed election of five AAP nominees in Punjab last week, the focus has shifted to five states – Assam, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Tripura – where Rajya Sabha elections for eight seats will be held on Thursday.
Assam will elect two candidates, Kerala will elect three, and Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Tripura will each elect one member of parliament. The Rajya Sabha elections are being held about three weeks after the results of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, and Punjab were announced, with the BJP winning four of the five states and the AAP winning Punjab.
Assam
BJP has chosen party spokesperson Pabitra Margherita for one of the two seats in Assam. Rwngwra Narzary of the United Peoples Party Liberals (UPPL), the BJP’s alliance partner, is running for the other seat.
Congressman Rupin Bora, whose term expires on April 2, has been re-nominated by the party for re-election. Margherita’s victory is almost certain, political experts say, because the BJP holds 83 of the 126 assembly seats. Narzary and Bora will have to compete for the second seat.
Kerala
The ruling LDF has nominated CPI(M) state committee member A A Rahim and CPI leader P Santhosh Kumar in Kerala, where three seats are vacant. Jebi Mather, the head of the opposition Congress’ women’s wing, has been nominated. A K Antony, M V Shreyams Kumar, and Somaprasad K are among those retiring.
Tripura
In BJP-ruled Tripura, state president Dr Manik Saha has been nominated for the lone Rajya Sabha seat. Bhanu Lal Saha, a senior CPI(M) leader, has been named to the Left Front.
PM MODI’S ADDRESS
The Prime Minister will also address the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Other speakers who will bid farewell to the retiring members include Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu, House Leader Piyush Goyal, and Congress Leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
A LOOK RETIRING MEMBERS, DINNER WITH SHOWCASE OF TALENTS
The retiring members of Rajya Sabha had a photo session with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RS Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, Deputy Chairman Harivansh and LS Speaker Om Birla on Thursday.
M Venkaiah Naidu is also set to host a farewell dinner for all outgoing members of the Upper House at his official residence on Thursday. PM Modi is also expected to attend the farewell dinner.
It is learnt that cultural programmes will be also be organised and mementos will be presented to all the 72 retiring members and to another 19 former members who had retired earlier but could not receive the mementos.
According to reports, at the farewell function, a few Rajya Sabha members will showcase their cultural talents.
Trinamool Congress member Santanu Sen will play the guitar at the farewell dinner, BJP’s Roopa Ganguly will sing a Hindi song, and DMK’s Tiruchi Siva a Tamil song. Sources said that few other members will also showcase their talent during the programme, IANS has reported.
It is also learnt that apart from Naidu, Prime Minister Modi, both Leader of the House and the Opposition, leaders from other parties and a few of the retiring members will speak at farewell dinner.
Earlier in the Rajya Sabha, Naidu said that Question Hour and Zero Hour will not be conducted on Thursday to allow members to speak and bid farewell to the retiring members.
Five members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and six members of the Congress will be among the 19 members who will retire in April. The retirements will reduce the number of members of Congress from 34 to 28. The BJP’s vote total will fall from 97 to 92. The BJP is the single largest party in the Upper House, which has 237 members.
Some of the members retiring in April include deputy leader of the Congress Anand Sharma, A K Antony, Subramanian Swamy, M C Mary Kom and Swapan Dasgupta while the terms of Nirmala Sitharaman, Suresh Prabhu, M J Akbar, Jairam Ramesh, Vivek Tankha, V Vijayasai Reddy will end in June.
Among the members retiring in July are Piyush Goyal, Muktar Abbas Naqvi, P Chidambaram, Ambika Soni, Kapil Sibal, Satish Chandra Misra, Sanjay Raut, Praful Patel and K J Alphons.
While some union ministers and BJP leaders will be renominated by the ruling party, there is no clarity on some renomination of the Congress members, some of whom are of the G-23 which has been critical of the party leadership.
