New Delhi: In an embarrassing loss for Congress, the grand old party lost its sole chance of winning Rajya Sabha seat to BJP in Assam. Elections for 2 seats from the state was held on Thursday, out of which 1 BJP candidate won unopposed.
Dealing a body-blow to Congress-led opposition, the BJP & its allies won both Rajya Sabha seats from Assam. One BJP candidate won unopposed while the other candidate of BJP coalition partner’s UPPL beat the opposition candidate in polls.
This defeat comes a big shock for the Congress party as party has never seen such drubbing in the North-Eastern state. Before being thrown out of power in 2016, the grand old party’s clout & support was unmatched in the state. Cong’s Tarun Gogoi was one of the popular Congress faces who ruled the state for many years.
Moreover, Dr Manmohan Singh, the two-term Prime Minister of Cong-led UPA also came from this North-Eastern state. Dr Singh got elected to Rajya Sabha multiple times on Congress ticket since early 1990s. He was first offered the Rajya Sabha seat in 1991. That year, he became Union Finance Minister and since then went on to become Prime Minister twice from 2004-2009 & 2009-2014. In both of the terms, he was a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam.
There are a total of 7 Rajya Sabha seats from Assam. 3 of them are held by BJP and 1 by its alliance partner AGP. An independent member holds another seat. And, with BJP coalition sweeping both seats, Congress is not left with any representation from Assam.
Today, the Congress chart is in a tailspin and its numbers are on constantly waning. By April this year, its number is expected to fall down to 29 members in RS, on account of string of losses in Assembly elections.
On the other hand, BJP and AAP made big gains in March 31 Rajya Sabha election with both winning 4 & 5 seats respectively while Congress, CPI, CPI(M) barely managed to stake claim over 1 seat each.
Every two years, one-third of the members of Rajya Sabha retire after every 2 years, after completion of their six-year terms.
