Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Once the Punjab Assembly election results are declared on March 10 and the new House is convened, the members have to elect five MPs for the Rajya Sabha as the tenure of five incumbent MPs from the state in the Upper House of Parliament ends in early April. For the last 25 years, Punjab Assembly has been electing Rajya Sabha members without a contest as both Congress and SAD-BJP field candidates who can bag enough votes to sail through the Assembly.
The five MPs from the state whose six-year tenure ends in April are Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo of Congress, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of SAD (Sanyukt), Naresh Gujral of SAD and Shwait Malik of BJP. The term of two other Rajya Sabha members from the state — Ambika Soni of Congress and Balwinder Singh Bhunder of SAD — will end in July.
The outgoing Assembly, which was formed in 2017, did not get chance to elect any member to the Rajya Sabha, as the previous election to Rajya Sabha was held in 2016. This will be the first time the AAP will get a chance to vote in Rajya Sabha polls.
Since the Assembly is likely to have representatives of more than two parties, the poll is likely to witness a contest. While in other states, one-third of their Rajya Sabha MPs retire every two years, Punjab’s case is different as the state was under president rule from 1985 to 1992 and no Rajya Sabha election was held during this period. In 1992, when the RS poll took place, MPs were elected together. Since then, RS polls are held every six years in the state and all members are elected in one go.
