While the Annual Budget is being announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the voting procedure for the bypolls to the two Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat have began at the Assembly complex in Gandhinagar on Friday, July 5.
The Congress party has nominated Chandrika Chudasama and Gaurav Pandya and the BJP has nominated OBC leader Juglaji Thakor and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Voting for the two seats, which began at 9 am, will continue till 4 pm. The counting of votes will be taken up at 5 pm.
Since election on the two seats is being held separately, the candidate needs to garner a simple 50 per cent votes to win. As per the present situation, each candidate needs 88 votes to secure victory.
The Congress had shifted 65 of its total 71 MLAs to a resort in Banaskantha, these MLAs have arrived here for voting at 10.30 am.
Bypolls for the two seats from Gujarat were necessitated after Union ministers Amit Shah and Smriti Irani resigned as Rajya Sabha members following their election to the Lok Sabha from Gandhinagar and Amethi constituencies respectively in May this year.
Given its strength in the 182-member Assembly, the BJP is set to win both the seats for which voting is being held separately as per the Election Commissions (EC) notification.
Out Of the total 182 MLAs, 175 are qualified to exercise their franchise this time.
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The BJP’s strength stands at 100, followed by 71 MLAs of the Congress.
Furthermore, Four seats are lying vacant following the resignations of the MLAs from these constituencies after their election to the Lok Sabha.
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