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Horse trading looms over RS polls

Independents, surplus votes from parties being tapped for price as high as Rs1cr a vote.

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With competition for the Rajya Sabha election hotting up in the state, horse trading has again come to the fore. Seven candidates are competing for six seats.

The neck-and-neck competition has also led to higher expenditure with those willing to stake ready to pay Rs1 crore for a vote. “The offer made through a common colleague is Rs1 crore to make up for the vote shortage,” said an Independent associated with Congress-NCP.

Some are weighing the offer options before making any commitment. “The party whip for voting official candidates applies only to those elected on party symbols. The Independents have made it clear they will take their own decisions,” said a senior Congress official.
The offer does not impose any condition, showing that one is willing to pay and get the vote at any cost. The middle men too are on the prowl to catch the potential voter and are ready to make full payment.

The competition is narrowing down between Independent candidate Sanjay Kakade and one of the two NCP’s Vandana Chavan and DP Tripathi. Both Kakade and NCP official candidate are short of 20-22 votes. They have to make up for the requisite 42 votes quota by seeking help from surplus votes from mainstream parties or Independents.

The Congress requires 84 votes to get its two candidates — Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rajiv Shukla.
The Congress with a total strength of 82 in state assembly coupled with associate members (16 Independents) will find no problems.

Shiv Sena’s candidate Anil Desai and BJP’s candidate Ajay Sancheti can easily get elected as their parties have 45 and 47 votes respectively.

Kakade, a developer in Pune, has sought the support of all Independents and smaller parties other than Congress, NCP, Sena and BJP. “The MNS’s 13 votes will be crucial,” said a political manager working for Kakade. “We have sought help from Sena and BJP whose surplus votes add to seven. The smaller parties constitute 16 votes taking the tally to 36. The rest could be sought from 16 Independents supporting the Congress.”

The NCP is tapping the same voters as the MNS, smaller parties and Independents to take its tally from 62 to 84 to get both its candidates elected.

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