16 RS seats all set for polls today
Special observers named, polling to be videographed DESHMUKH APPEALS IN HC SEEKING BAIL
Amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading in the Rajya Sabha elections in four states, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Thursday said special observers have been appointed to oversee the poll process.
Bienniel elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently and all 41 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Telangana, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were declared elected unopposed last Friday.
However, elections will be held for 16 seats of Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka on Friday as the number of candidates exceeds the seats going to the polls. Kumar said “We have appointed special observers in all the four places (states). The entire process will be videographed.”
Maharashtra
Political parties in Maharashtra are engaged in hectic parleys to finalise their strategy for Friday’s elections to six seats of Rajya Sabha from the state, being viewed as a platform for the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies and Opposition BJP to test their strength.
After more than two decades, Maharashtra will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for six seats.
Haryana
Accompanied by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, 28 Congress MLAs from Haryana who had been lodged in a resort in Raipur since June 2 to stop their poaching on Thursday flew to
A Mumbai court on Thursday rejected the pleas by Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik and former State home minister Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary bail for a day to cast their votes in the Rajya Sabha elections.
The Enforcement Directorate had opposed the bail pleas of both the NCP leaders on the ground that prisoners don’t have voting rights under the Representation of the People Act.
Both the leaders have now approached the Bombay High Court against the rejection of their plea by the special PMLA court. The HC will hear the petitions in the morning.
Chandigarh in a chartered plane as the contest for one of the two seats going to the polls sharpened.
Karnataka
As the stage is set for Rajya Sabha polls for four seats from Karnataka on Friday, suspense continues over the outcome of the fourth seat, to which all three political parties are contenders, despite none of them having adequate number of votes to win it.
Rajasthan
The stage is set for the elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, with the ruling Congress in a position to win two seats and the Opposition BJP one. However, the contest for the fourth seat spiced up after media baron Subhash Chandra filed his papers as an Independent candidate.