The Trinamool Congress has asked 10 MLAs, who are officially legislators of the Congress but have actually switched to the ruling party, to vote in favour of TMC supported Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha polls, a senior TMC leader said.
Out of the 44 Congress MLAs who had won in 2016 Assembly polls, 11 Congress MLAs had switched over to the TMC and one had passed away. Out of these 11, only Manas Bhunia has resigned from his Sabang seat to become a Rajya Sabha MP. The Congress has also lost Noapara seat to TMC in a bypoll.
"The Congress MLAs who had switched over to the Trinamool Congress has been asked to vote for the TMC supported Congress candidate Singhvi. Officially they are still Congress MLAs as they have not resigned," said the senior TMC leader.
Six candidates, including Singhvi, is in the fray for the election to five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal, which is scheduled to be held on March 23.
The TMC has fielded four candidates--Nadimul Haque, Subhasish Chakraborty, Abir Biswas and Santunu Sen-- and has announced its support to Congress' Singhvi for the fifth seat.
Senior CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb is contesting as the Left Front candidate for the fifth seat.
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