Sharad Pawar, Harivansh, Scindia in fray for Rajya Sabha polls as nomination filing ends

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, BJP’s newest recruit Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress veteran Digvijay Singh are among those in the fray for elections to 55 Rajya Sabha seats to be held on March 26 with a number of the contestants set to get elected unopposed.

Friday was the last date of filing of nominations for the biennial polls. Fifty-one of these 55 seats from 17 states are falling vacant on different dates in April due to retirement of sitting members, while four other seats are already vacant due to resignation of members.

Bypoll will also be held to a Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana vacated by former Union minister Birender Singh.

Counting will be held on the evening of March 26, an hour after the conclusion of polls.

A keen battle is on the cards in Madhya Pradesh, where the Kamal Nath government faces a grim future following rebellion by at least 22 MLAs, as both the BJP and the Congress have announced two candidates each for the state’s three seats.

Scindia and Digvijay Singh are expected to comfortably win in the polls. The BJP’s Sumer Singh Solanki and Phool Singh Baraiya of the Congress are likely to slug it out for the third seat.

The two parties are comfortably placed to ensure the win of one of their candidates, and while the Congress appeared to have an edge for the third seat but the decision of its 22 MLAs to resign from the state assembly has upended the numbers game.

Most of these MLAs are supporters of Scindia, who joined the BJP on Wednesday after quitting the Congress a day before.

The official tally of the Congress in the 228-member assembly