Court decisions pave way for two more Congress votes: MP Rajya Sabha race gets interesting

Special Correspondent

NewsBits.in

Bhopal: Two separate court decisions on Thursday came as shot in the arm for the Congress, making its way easier for a Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh. Congress has fielded senior lawyer Vivek Tankha for the RS polls scheduled for June 11.

The Jabalpur High Court on Thursday allowed a Congress petition that sought postal ballot facility for ailing leader of opposition Satyadev Katare. Meanwhile, the Indore bench of the HC granted bail to Barwani MLA Ramesh Patel who was in jail on rape charges. These two decisions mean two votes extra in Congress kitty.

Three Rajya Sabha seats from MP are to be filled up and the BJP has two almost in its pocket due to its high MLA count in state assembly. It has re-nominated Anil Madhav Dave and fielded veteran journalist MJ Akbar for these two seats.

It is the third seat that has made the political scenario interesting in state. While Congress fielded Dave, BJP sought to create hurdles for his election by supporting party general secretary Vijay Gotia, who filed nomination as an independent.

With 58 votes required to win a seat, the Congress with 57 MLAs was on shaky grounds as the Election Commission refused postal ballot for Katare and MLA Patel was in jail. But the Thursday court decision brought some smiles to Congress camp that is already enthused by the support of Bahujan Samaj Party that has four MLAs in house.

BJP needs nine extra votes for Gotia to win and one of its MLAs has been disqualified from voting. Therefore Thursday’s legal developments sent senior BJP leaders into close huddle, trying to formulate a strategy to counter the Congress moves.

Sources said that BJP might challenge the HC decisions on Katare and Patel in Supreme Court. But with the polling scheduled for Saturday, things as of now look a little tilted towards Congress.