Despite the Election Commission not indicating any plan to hold byelections to fill three vacancies in the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu, sections of the AIADMK are debating among themselves about the party’s depleting strength in the Upper House.
The vacancies have arisen following the death of A. Mohammedjan in March and the resignation of two senior leaders K.P. Munusamy and R. Vaithilingam after they got elected to the Assembly.
As the three belonged to different terms, their seats will be regarded as separate vacancies and are to be filled through three byelections, according to a former Chief Election Commissioner.
The term of the deceased member would have otherwise ended in July 2025; that of Mr. Munusamy in April 2026 and Mr. Vaithilingam in June 2022.
Given the composition of the State Assembly wherein the coalition led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has 159 members, leaders of the AIADMK are aware that the ruling party and its allies are comfortably placed to bag all the three seats and there would not be any need for contest.
In the event of a contest for one vacancy, a candidate is required to get a minimum of 118 votes, assuming that all the 234 members of the Assembly cast their votes.
At present, the AIADMK has six Rajya Sabha members, including one from Puducherry – N. Gokulakrishnan — whose term ends in October.
Puducherry seat
Subject to any display of leniency by its allies — the All India NR Congress and the BJP — towards it, the AIADMK, which has no representation in the Assembly of the Union Territory, will not be able to retain the Rajya Sabha seat.
In that case, the party’s strength will dip to five from 13 in June 2016.
It is against this backdrop that sections within the party feel that by nominating Mr. Munusamy to the Upper House last year the party had wasted one seat as it again decided to field him in the recent Assembly election.
When he and the former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, M. Thambi Durai, were nominated last year, younger members of the party had nursed a grievance that at least one seat could have been given to one of the candidates from their ranks. In the case of Mr. Vaithilingam being fielded in the Assembly poll, nobody complained because he had just one year left in his Rajya Sabha term.
