Polls for 8 Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu and Assam, being vacated in next two months, to be held on June 19

New Delhi: Elections to eight Rajya Sabha seats from Assam and Tamil Nadu, which will become vacant in the next two months, will be held on June 19.

In Tamil Nadu, the seats held by P Wilson, M Shanmugam, N Mohd Abdulla (all DMK), N Chandrasegharan (AIADMK), M Vaiko (MDMK) and Anbumani Ramadoss (PMK) will fall vacant on July 24 and those held by BJP’s Mission Ranjan Das and Birendra Prasad Baishya (AGP) will fall vacant on June 14.

Announcing the schedule, the Election Commission said the filing of nominations starts on after notification is issued on June 2 and the last day of filing papers would be June 9 followed by scrutiny the next day. The last date for withdrawal is on June 10.

With its strength of 159 in a house of 234, the DMK-led alliance can easily win four of the six seats while AIADMK-led combine can wrest the remaining two if the DMK doesn’t field a fifth candidate.

It is to be seen whether M K Stalin-led DMK would concede one seat to Vaiko once again, amid demands from the cadre to take it over. One seat is likely to be allotted to MNM leader and actor Kamal Haasan as part of an agreement that the two parties signed during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In the Opposition camp, 66-member AIADMK cannot get its second candidate on its own, especially with three of its MLAs in rebellion against the leadership. BJP has four MLAs and PMK has five legislators on this.

It would be interesting if both BJP and PMK seek the second seat that the Tamil Nadu Opposition could win. If Ramadoss would seek another term, the Edappadi Palaniswami-led AIADMK is likely to put a condition that PMK announce its alliance for the Assembly elections immediately.

If the BJP is planning to seek a nominee from its partner, it could nominate either K Annamalai or another leader. Annamalai may not be personally inclined to enter the Upper House with AIADMK support, as he has been vocal against any BJP tie-up with the Dravidian party.

In Assam, the ruling BJP and the Opposition could share the seats but in a similar election in 2022, at least half-a-dozen Opposition MLAs, cross-voted helping the saffron party and its ally UPPL win both the seats. In the Assembly, BJP-led NDA has 84 seats while Congress has 22 and other Opposition parties 20.