The Rajya Sabha bypolls for three seats from Bengal vacated by Trinamool rebels will be conducted on July 24, the Election Commission announced on Monday.
The vacancies cropped up after Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik quit last month after the party’s debacle in the Assembly polls and the rebellion that followed.
To win, a candidate will need the support of at least 74 MLAs under the proportional representation with a single-transferable-vote system. Although Trinamool has 80 seats, the legislature party has split, which may give the BJP a chance to contest all three seats successfully.
This would take the BJP closer to but still short of the two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha, which it needs to pass the contentious constitutional amendment bill that ties the implementation of women’s reservation in the legislatures to delimitation of constituencies.
A Mamata Banerjee-loyalist Trinamool MP told The Telegraph: “The All India Trinamool Congress national working committee will take a decision on the Rajya Sabha polls. If the names of any of those who have resigned appear on the ballot, we will know they are traitors.”
The terms of Ray and Baraik end on September 18, 2029. Dev’s tenure ends on April 2, 2030.