Gujarat: Jolt To Congress Before Rajya Sabha Elections, 2 MLAs Resign

Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on June 19, two Gujarat Congress MLAs Akshay Patel and Jeetu Chaudhary have resigned. According to Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi, the two MLAs submitted their resignation after meeting him, which has now been accepted. Akshay Patel was a Congress MLA from Karjana of Vadodara and Jeetu Chaudhary from Kaprada assembly seat of Valsad.

Two MLAs Akshay Patel and Jitu Bhai Chaudhary (both from Congress) have resigned voluntarily from the post of MLA and I have accepted it: Rajendra Trivedi, Gujarat Assembly Speaker pic.twitter.com/nKqSeRgafo

— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2020

Rajya Sabha elections are to be held on four seats in the state on June 19, but before that, the resignation of two MLAs is considered a big blow to the Congress. Earlier in March, five Congress MLAs had resigned, including Limdi MLA Somabhai Patel, Dhari MLA JV Kakadia, Abdasa MLA Pradyuman Singh Jadeja, Dang MLA Mangal Gavit, and Gadda MLA Praveen Maru.

After the resignation of these two Congress MLAs, the BJP has 103 and the Congress 66 MLAs in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly. Both parties need 35 votes to win one Rajya Sabha seat in Gujarat. Congress needs 70 votes to win two seats, but it will a big challenge for them after the resignations.

So far the BJP has announced three while the Congress has announced two candidates. The BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara, and Narhari Amin, while the Congress has fielded senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki.