Nine collect forms of nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The ensuing Rajya Sabha election in the State has gathered momentum with hectic activities among political parties and candidates.

So far, nine aspirants have collected the forms of nomination papers from the Returning Officer for the Rajya Sabha election slated to be held on March 26, 2020. While Bhubaneswar Kalita, Satyendra Prasad Deka, Subhas Dutta and Abdul Rezzak collected their forms on Tuesday, Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, Biswajit Daimary, Kazi Nekib Ahmed, Sapatoon Begum and Moitree Sarma had collected the forms earlier. Daimary has informed the Returning Officer that he would file the nomination paper on Wednesday.

The last date for filing of nomination papers is March 13. The election will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on March 26. The scrutiny of nomination papers is on March 16, and the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers is March 18.

The Electoral College has strength of 124 MLAs at present. Two Assembly seats are now lying vacant following the deaths of former Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly and Sivasagar MLA Pranab Gogoi and Tezpur MLA Rajen Borthakur. The election will be held against three vacant seats in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP has 60 MLAs followed by 23 Congress, 14 each by AGP and AIUDF, 12 BPF and 1 independent. If all 124 MLAs cast their votes on March 26, a candidate will require 32 votes to win the election. The Rajya Sabha election has been necessitated after the seats earlier held by Biswajit Daimary, Bhubaneswar Kalita and Sanjay Singh fell vacant.

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