How media baron Subhash Chandra’s entry into RS fray surprised the Congress

New Delhi, May 31: In the race to the Rajya Sabha a new independent candidate has made a surprise entry. There would be a contest for a seat in Rajasthan with the last minute nomination of media baron, Subhash Chandra.

Chandra is the chairperson of the Easel Group and is the fifth candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections in Rajasthan. There are four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan and the Congress is in a position to win three and the BJP one.

There would now be a contest for the fourth seat with Chandra's entry as a fifth candidate. He will challenge the Congress' Pramod Tiwari who is a resident of Uttar Pradesh.

This move was made by the BJP with an eye on the resentment in the state thanks to an Ashok Gehlot vs Sachin Pilot fight The Congress is also facing anger for choosing candidates for the Rajya Sabha all of whom belong to other states.

Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari are the candidates for the Congress. Ghanshyam Tiwari is the candidate for the BJP.

Each candidate needs 41 votes to win in Rajasthan where the assembly strength is 200. The Congress has 108 MLAs while the BJP has 71. While they have a surplus of 30 votes to win a second seat they need another 11. For the Congress to win a third seat, they need 15 more votes.

In this context the smaller parties and independents will play a major role. There are 13 independents, 2 RLP MLAs and two each from the Bharatiya Tribal Party and CPM. These votes will be extremely crucial in the elections.