Trinamool Congress set to win 4 of 5 Bengal RS seats; Left faces wipeout since 1958

Kolkata: With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states, Trinamool Congress (TMC) is set to send nominations for four out of the five seats from the state that are due to fall vacant on April 2.

For the first time since 1958, the Left Front is set to have no representation in the Rajya Sabha from Bengal. Bhupesh Gupta of the then undivided CPI was the first Rajya Sabha MP from the state.

With numbers stacked in its favour, the ruling party in the state is set to win four Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal, while the BJP is expected to secure one. CPI(M) may not be able to send a single candidate to the Upper House due to a lack of Assembly seats in the state. Elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on March 16.

Rajya Sabha polls are going to happen under the shadow of the upcoming Assembly elections. TMC leaders, however, remained tight-lipped on the party’s nominees, fueling speculation about a combination of experienced leaders and possible new faces. The five vacancies arise from the completion of terms of TMC MPs Subrata Bakshi, Ritabrata Banerjee and Saket Gokhale, along with the seat vacated after Mausam Benazir Noor resigned and later joined the Congress.

The term of senior advocate and CPI(M) leader Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya is also ending. The Left lacks the numbers to retain the seat. The CPI(M)-led Left Front currently has no Lok Sabha member from Bengal and no representation in the state Assembly either.

With an effective strength of around 218 MLAs and support from several opposition legislators who have crossed over without resigning, the ruling party will comfortably cross the required quota of votes per candidate, positioning it to send four MPs to Rajya Sabha. BJP’s tally in the Assembly dropped to around 65 from 77 seats won in the 2021 Assembly polls due to resignations, defections, deaths and bypoll setbacks, is nonetheless assured of winning one seat.

Names doing the rounds for the Rajya Sabha seat in the BJP camp include former MP Locket Chatterjee and actor-politician Mithun Chakraborty. There is no official

confirmation yet.