Gujarat Rajya Sabha poll : Patel's fate to be sealed today

The entire nation, probably for the first time is watching an RS election with such keen interest. The Gujarat assembly would vote in the RS elections today.

176 members of the 182-strong Gujarat Assembly would vote to elect three representatives to the Upper House of Parliament and they have four candidates to choose from.While the Opposition Congress seeks to elect Ahmed Patel, political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi, the BJP has party president Amit Shah, Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Irani and former chief whip of the Congress in Gujarat Assembly-turned-BJP man Balwantsinh Rajput in the fray.

Each candidate requires 45 first preference votes to win. The BJP, with a strength of 122, would find it easy to send two of its candidates to the Rajya Sabha. The fight is for the third seat, as the BJP fielded Rajput to take on mighty Ahmed Patel.

The Congress has seen the number of its legislators in the Assembly deplete from 57 to 51, with six quitting the party by July 28 and three of them joining the BJP. The Congress moved 44 of its legislators to party-ruled Karnataka for about 10 days to prevent any further "poaching". These legislators were brought back home only on Monday, but kept at Nijanand Resort near Anand, 80 km from state capital Gandhinagar, the venue of voting.

The Congress has issued a whip and a warning as well. However the worry for the party is rebel leader Shankersinh Vaghela who quit the party recently.The Congress would be worried that he would influence the MLAs. The other problem is the NCP which has two legislators in the assembly. The party has not made it clear which way it would vote, although Vaghela claimed that he has the support of the party. The lone JD(U) legislator from tribal-dominated Jhagadia constituency in South Gujarat, Chhotubhai Vasava has also kept everyone guessing. Vasava had boycotted Presidential polls to highlight issues of "tribals" by not voting. A political heavyweight in his region, Vasava is unlikely to toe party line while voting this time too.