Ahmedabad: Even before BJP president Amit Shah and Smriti Irani, who emerged as a giant killer in this election, take oath as members of the Lok Sabha, speculation has already started over their possible replacements in the Rajya Sabha.
Mr Shah and Ms Irani are members of the Upper House from Gujarat and their shift to the Lok Sabha will cause two vacancies from the state.
Political circles see a 2017-like situation for the Rajya Sabha elections because of the numbers in the Assembly. The BJP now has 99 legislators and the Congress has 71. Although four BJP legislators were elected in the bypolls, four party legislators won the Lok Sabha elections and it is expected that the party tally will remain the same.
It requires a minimum of 60 first preference votes to get one candidate elected and the Congress can easily get its nominee elected, given its strength. This means, both the BJP and the Congress are in a position to send one member each to the Upper House.
According to experts, the BJP will need at least 120 members, as per current Assembly situation, if its wants to win both the seats.
Looking at the BJP’s aggression, which was also seen during 2017 Rajya Sabha election when Congress stalwart Ahmed Patel won the battle at the last minute, many believe that the party may try to woo a few more Congress MLAs to its side.
The Gujarat unit of the Congress is already in a bad state and after the thumping victory of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections it may become easy for the ruling party to pursue Congress MLAs.
Mr Alpesh Thakor, who was elected on Congress ticket from Radhanpur, has left the party just ahead of the election but is still a member of the Assembly and is likely to join the BJP soon. A decision of his membership in the House is pending with the Speaker.
Bypolls for the vacated Assembly seats are likely to take place in near future.
