B. K. Hariprasad will take on NDA’s nominee, Harivansh Narayan Singh of the JD (U) for the RS deputy chairman election tomorrow.
New Delhi: Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, B. K. Hariprasad will be the opposition’s candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson, sources said Wednesday.
Several opposition parties have joined hands against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and decided to field a joint candidate to take on the NDA nominee, Harivansh Narayan Singh of the Janata Dal (United), for the election on 9 August.
Wednesday is the last day for filing of nominations.
The Congress decided to field its nominee as the joint opposition candidate, after the other opposition parties chose not to nominate their members.
The election will be held as scheduled at 11 AM Thursday.
The position of the deputy chairman has been vacant since the retirement of P. J. Kurien on 1 July.
According to sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat, both sides have given notices on behalf of their respective candidates and their papers have been found to be in order.
Congress’ deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma claimed that the numbers were in the opposition’s favour. He further added that the opposition had to contest the elections as things were “not right” in the upper house.
With PTI inputs