Parliament: Voting begins in Rajya Sabha deputy chair poll

New Delhi, Aug 09: The Rajya Sabha is set to witness a close fight for the post of its deputy chairperson. The post has been lying vacant since July 1 when the term of PJ Kurien ended.

The Voting begins for the election of the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman's post is a direct contest between the JDU's Harivansh Narayan Singh and the Congress's BK Hari Prasad. Singh enjoys the ruling NDA's backing, however, none of the candidates have the outright support of enough MPs.

A keen contest is on the cards today between NDA nominee Harivansh and joint opposition candidate BK Hariprasad for the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman, with both sides claiming majority support.

The numbers, however, appear stacked in favour of the ruling coalition which claims the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs.

While Harivansh is a first-time MP of the JD-U, Hariprasad is a three-time parliamentarian of the Congress.

Both the ruling NDA and the opposition camp gave notices on behalf of their respective candidates and their papers have been found to be in order, according to sources in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

The election will be held at 11 am tomorrow, soon after the laying of papers. The post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman has been lying vacant since the retirement of P J Kurien on July 1.

The opposition camp is claiming support of various parties, including Congress, TMC, DMK, Left parties, SP, BSP, NCP, TDP.

"We have decided to support Congress leader B K Hariprasad," TDP leader Y S Choudhary said. The TDP has six members in the Upper House.

On the other hand, the ruling NDA is intact, with the Shiv Sena and Akali Dal extending their full support to the official nominee, besides also by independent parties like the AIADMK and the TRS.