Anand Sharma to get Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan

Union commerce minister Anand Sharma will now enter the parliament as a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.

He was named as one of the three candidates for the biennial elections from the state on Saturday. Sharma hails from Himachal Pradesh and his term had expired on April 2nd this year.

With this nomination, he will be able to fulfill the statutory requirement of becoming a member of parliament within six months of his ceasing to be an MP.

Sitting member Narendra Budhania has been named as the party’s candidate for a by-election and Ask Ali Tak, a former Rajasthan minister, is the second candidate.

Meanwhile, a contest seems unavoidable for the six seats in Maharashtra. Congress spokesman Kanhaiyalal Gidwani has confirmed that he would be contesting the election as an independent supported by the associate members of the Congress party.

According to Gidwani, there are 53 surplus votes after five candidates get elected.

“The situation is that two candidates from Congress, one each from the NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena will get elected smoothly. The sixth candidate from the NCP is short of the required quota of votes. There is no alliance between the Congress and the NCP for these elections,” he added while explaining the rationale for his entering the fray.