Rarely do Rajya Sabha elections generate as much interest among the masses and animosity among political parties as they have in Madhya Pradesh this time.

The state will elect three members to the Upper House on Friday. But the battle is being fought only for one seat, as the ruling BJP is comfortably placed to ensure the victory of two of its three candidates. Despite having 166 MLAs, the party finds itself short by five votes to win the third seat. The Congress, meanwhile, does not have the strength to field its own candidate and had decided to throw its weight behind an Independent candidate.

The lack of numbers has suddenly made the BJP and the Congress chase the other political parties, who are either acting pricey or holding their cards close to their chest. Given its numbers in the Assembly, the ruling party has rarely hobnobbed with the smaller parties till recent losses in bypolls made it impossible for it to win a third seat on its own. Now it is left wooing the minnows.

The Congress is doing its best to outsmart the BJP. But in doing so, the party finds itself consumed by the political maelstrom brought on by Samajwadi Party MLA Kishore Samrite who alleged that he was offered a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to vote in favour of the Congress-supported candidate Vivek Tankha, a Supreme Court lawyer and a former advocate general of Madhya Pradesh. Samrite’s allegation has spiralled out of control, leading to a war of words and a slew of complaints from police stations to the Election Commission of India.

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