Cong Doesn’t Know Many Of Its MLAs Will Join BJP: Sarma On RS Polls

Mumbai: Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday announced that several Congress MLAs wishing to join the Bharatiya Janata Party are in talks with the party.

Expressing confidence over BJP’s victory in two Rajya Sabha seats slated to go for polls, Sarma said, “Congress does not know that many of their MLAs are going to join BJP. Also, candidates are not bound to follow the whip issued in the party in Rajya Sabha polls. By this calculation, we will manage to get both the seats.” BJP has fielded Pabitra Gogoi Margherita for Rajya Sabha polls whereas Congress has fielded Assam PCC president Ripun Bora.

BJP’s ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) has fielded Ravangavra Narzari for the elections to be held on two seats in Assam. BJP has announced its support to the UPPL candidates for the second seat.

Earlier this month, the apex election body had announced elections to fill 13 Rajya Sabha seats in six states that fell vacant in April. These include Assam (two seats), Himachal (one seat), Nagaland (one seat), Tripura (one seat) and Kerala (three seats). Apart from this, five seats are also falling vacant in Punjab, in which five members of the state are retiring on April 9.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on March 22. March 24 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawal of nominations. The counting of votes for the polling to be held on March 31 will begin at 5 pm on the day of polling.

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