RS polls: Corralled in resorts, MLAs to come out & vote in 4 states today

New Delhi/Mumbai/Bengaluru/Chandigarh: Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.

Prominent among those whose electoral fate will be decided are Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Congress candidates Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh and Mukul Wasnik, and Shiv Sena's ubiquitous face Sanjay Raut. All these leaders are expected to win without a hiccup.

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.

Arch rivals BJP and Congress have corralled their MLAs in hotels and resorts lest they should be poached, treating them to generous hospitality.

Political parties in Maharashtra, where polling will be held for six seats, were Thursday engaged in hectic parleys to fine-tune their strategy.

After more than two decades, the state will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for six seats.

The ruling MVA allies - Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress - have lodged their MLAs in different hotels and resorts in Mumbai. They will leave for the state assembly just before the polling begins, sources in the ruling coalition said.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge, and BJP leader and Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw went into a huddle with with leaders of their respective parties in Mumbai to give final touches to their strategy.

Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, Dhananjay Mahadik (BJP), Praful Patel (NCP), Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena) and Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress) are in fray for the six seats. The contest is for the sixth seat - between BJP's Mahadik and Sena's Pawar.

Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs, NCP 53, Congress 44 , BJP 106, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) three, Samajwadi party, AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti party two each, MNS, CPI(M), PWP, Swabhimani Party, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, Jansurajya Shakti party, Krantikari Shetkari Party one each, and there are 13 independent legislators.

Both the MVA partners and BJP are banking on the 25 additional votes of smaller parties and independents to see their candidates emerge victorious for the sixth seat.

The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly is the electoral college for the elections but the total votes have come down to 285 because of a vacancy due to the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke and a special court's rejection of the pleas of NCP's Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh, in jail for alleged involvement in money laundering cases, seeking a day's bail to vote.

In Haryana, where voting will take place for two seats, the MLAs of the ruling BJP and some of its ally JJP were lodged for the second day in a resort near Chandigarh. The Congress legislators are also in a resort in Chhattisgarh amid apprehension of poaching.