BJP smells rat as only one RS seat goes to poll on June 20

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi June 02

The election for one Rajya Sabha seat in Jharkhand would be held on June 20 with declaration of the result the same day. But the decision of the Election Commission to conduct election of only one seat has surprised the State BJP. The party might explore legal options too.A delegation of BJP leaders will meet the Chief Election Commissioner; Navin Chawla on Monday to express their concern. The delegation will consist of Yaswant Sinha, State BJP president Raghuwar Das, Karia Munda, Arjun Munda and PN Singh.Sources in the State election department informed that a notification in this regard will be issued on June 3 and nominations for the same can be filed till June 10 which will be scrutinised the next day. The Commission had issued a Press note on May 27 but it remained silent about when to conduct the election of another seat.Two seats of Rajya Sabha in Jharkhand became vacant following the victory of Digvijay Singh and Yaswant Sinha from Banka (Bihar) and Hazaribagh parliamentary constituencies, respectively.Speaking over telephone Sinha said: “Only the commission can explain the logic behind conducting elections of two vacant seats on two different dates.”

The moment a Rajya Sabha member is elected in parliamentary election; his/her membership of Rajya Sabha is automatically terminated, Sinha informed.Nevertheless, an official of the State election department said it was necessary for a RS member to submit resignation following his/her election in parliamentary election.

In the case of Digvijay Singh, he had submitted his resigantion from his Rajya Sabha seat before filing his nomination as an independent from Banka.The BJP termed it a deliberate attempt of the Commission to help the Congress win both the seats. “It will be, however, difficult for the Congress to win both the seats if elections for both the seats are conducted the same day,” a senior BJP leader said.Sinha also termed the election politically unethical and morally wrong. The Congress has deliberately kept the Assembly under suspended animation to extract political mileage like managing RS seats, he said.

Sinha further raised objection over the fairness of such elections when five of the MLAs of the Assembly have been elected in parliamentary elections and other three seats are vacant.