The Rajya Sabha elections scheduled on February 7 is expected to be a tough test for the Congress party given the divide between party and its Seemandhra legislators in the state owing to the Telangana issue. The Election Commission has announced the schedule for the RS elections for 55 seats in 16 states including six vacancies in the state. In 2009, the election process continued till the third week of March, but this time around, it will end in the first week of February 2014. Five sitting MPs, including Nandi Yellaiah, Md Ali Khan (Telangana), KVP Ramachandra Rao, T Subbarami Reddy and T Ratnabai (Seemandhra) would retire as their term expires while the sixth vacancy was due to the resignation of TDP member Nandamuri Harikrishna in protest against the Centre’s decision on Telangana some time ago. In normal circumstances, Congress will get three seats and the TDP two. But since Seemandhra Congress leaders are unhappy due to the CWC decision to divide the state, sources say that the MLAs from the region may not vote for the Congress candidate and in case cross-voting from the Seemandhra Congress camp crosses a limit, then it will be difficult for the Congress to win all the seats! 

మరింత సమాచారం తెలుసుకోండి: