Congress likely to win 2, BRS 1 Rajya Sabha seat in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced that the elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on February 27, 2024 across 15 states. The last date for filing nomination papers would be February 15. Polling would be held from 9 am to 4 pm and counting of votes would also take place on the same day.

The term of BRS MPs Joginapalli Santosh Kumar, ⁠Badugula Lingaiah Yadav and ⁠Vaddiraju Ravichandra, who were all elected in 2018, comes to end this year. Of the three vacant seats, it looks like the BRS might be able to nominate only one member this time around, losing the other two seats to the Congress going by the number of votes each party has in the Telangana Assembly.

Here's how Telangana MLAs will vote for Rajya Sabha

While none of the parties have finalised any candidates for the polls, the nominee is required to secure a certain number of votes in the Assembly to win.

There is a formula to find out the required number of votes (quotient). First, the number of vacancies in the Upper House is added with one. Then, the full strength of MLAs in the Legislative Assembly is divided by the result obtained in the first step, followed by adding one to the result.

Also Read: Two MLC seats in Telangana, contenders galore from Congress, BRS

There are 119 MLAs in the Telangana Assembly and three seats of Rajya Sabha are going to fall vacant. Going by the formula, if one is added to three vacancies, the total goes to four. When 119 is divided by 4 and the answer is added with one, the final number of votes required to elect a Rajya Sabha member would be 30.75 or 31 votes.

The Congress currently has 64 MLAs in the Assembly. It can win two of the Rajya Sabha seats. The BRS which has 39 MLAs can win the third seat. If the Congress fields only two candidates and the BRS only one candidate, then the election of the three candidates to Rajya Sabha would be unanimous.

But if the Congress fields three candidates or the BRS two or even three candidates, then there would be voting with first, second and third preference votes. If there is a contest, the possibility of cross voting cannot be ruled out.

The BJP has eight MLAs, AIMIM seven and CPI one. At least 10 legislators are needed to propose a candidate for a Rajya Sabha seat. While the CPI is expected to support the Congress, the AIMIM might back the BRS. The BJP has not announced its stand yet.