Gujarat Cong asks EC to 'stop BJP from misusing police to harass MLAs' before RS polls

Seeking the Election Commission's help against the Gujarat BJP, the Congress party has approached the body on Friday, asking it to direct the Gujarat police to not reopen any cases, not file any cases against its MLAs prior to the Rajya Sabha polls on June 19. The party has alleged that the ruling party was misusing the police to harass Congress MLAs by repeatedly calling them for 'investigations'. Eight Congress MLAs have already resigned till date reducing its strength to 65 in a 180-strong Assembly.

Rajya Sabha polls: Gujarat Congress claims support of BTP; faces counter

Gujarat Congress approaches EC

Rajya Sabha Polls for 24 seats to be held on June 19 announces Election Commission

BTP: No attachment to Congress

On Thursday, Gujarat Congress leader Paresh Dhanani has come out and said the party has the support of the Nationalist Congress Party and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP). But now, BTP has countered that claim saying they don't have an attachment or loyalty to the Congress alone. Both  BJP and opposition Congress are competing for the Independent votes, particularly of the alliance of BTP and NCP that have two and one MLA respectively.

While Congress has claimed the support of NCP and BTP, the  NCP legislator Kandhal Jadeja has said that the party is forced to back the Congress as the parties share power in neighbouring Maharashtra, otherwise, he didn't intend to back the grand old party.  BTP has said that under Congress rule in the state, the tribal community had suffered a lot and that's why they will take a final call on which camp they will back.  While the Congress has fielded Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki, BJP has fielded Ramilaben Bara, Abhay Bhardwaj, and Narhari Amin.

Rajasthan whip writes to Anti-Terror squad alleging horse-trading of MLAs pre-RS polls

Resort politics return

The Rajya Sabha election for four seats in Gujarat is scheduled on June 19. Ahead of that, Congress has lodged several of its MLAs in resorts fearing poaching attempts by the BJP in different resorts,  dividing them into zone-wise groups. While both Congress and BJP were set to win two seats unopposed, with the reduced strength, Congress may no longer win the second RS seat as 36 seats are needed to win a seat.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Active cases at 1,41,842; states confirm 'no lockdown extension'

EC announces new Rajya Sabha poll dates

On June 1, the Election Commission announced that the polls for 18 Rajya Sabha seats which were deferred due to Coronavirus, will be held on June 19 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The counting of the votes will be done on the same day at 5:00 PM. The 18 seats belong to the states of Andhra Pradesh (4 seats), Gujarat (4 seats), Jharkhand (2 seats), Madhya Pradesh (3 seats), Manipur (1 seat), Meghalaya (1 seat) and Rajasthan (3 seats). This year, 55 Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant by April 2020 - 37 of which has been elected unopposed already.