State Health Minister Tulsi Silavat has requested the party leadership to nominate Jyotiraditya Scindia for the Rajya Sabha. His supporters have been raising the demand ever since Scindia lost the Guna parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha elections.
While the detailed election schedule will be released later, the Election Commission has appointed AP Singh, the principal secretary of the state assembly, as the electoral officer to conduct the elections. On the current party position the Congress is expected to win two of the three seats while the BJP can retain one.
A Rajya Sabha member would require a vote of 58 Assembly members. The Congress currently has 114 members in the Legislative Assembly and that will ensure smooth sailing for its first member. For the second seat, however, the Congress will need two additional votes from the other MLAs.
Independent MLA Pradeep Jaiswal is a minister in the Kamal Nath government and his vote is likely to go to the Congress candidate. The Congress will thus need only one more vote to see its candidate through. The Kamal Nath government has the support of four Independents, two BSP and one SP MLA. Therefore, another seat should not be so hard to get.
With 108 members the BJP can manage only one seat. But to force an election for a second member the party will have to wangle eight more votes, which looks unlikely. The Congress thus appears set to win two seats after 15 years.
( With inputs from IANS )