The three leaders submitted the papers before the Returning Officer at the West Bengal assembly, they said.
The three Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant after Ray, Dev and Baraik resigned from the Upper House of Parliament and quit the TMC following the party’s assembly election defeat. They are now poised to return to Parliament barely a month later, on BJP tickets this time.
Also Read: Former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Prakash Chik Baraik join BJP
They joined the BJP on July 9 and were named the party’s candidates for the Rajya Sabha bypolls from West Bengal within hours.
This was the first major induction of former TMC leaders into the BJP since it swept the assembly polls, signalling that the party’s post-election embargo on Trinamool Congress entrants would not extend to leaders it considers politically credible and free from corruption.
According to the Election Commission’s notification, each of the three vacancies will be filled through a separate election and treated as an independent contest, even though all three bypolls will follow a common schedule.Rajya Sabha members are elected by members of the state legislative assembly through proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. Since each vacancy is being contested separately, a candidate requires the support of 147 MLAs to secure election.
Former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Prakash Chik Baraik join BJP
Also Read: Hours after joining BJP, 3 Ex-TMC MPs named Rajya Sabha nominees from West Bengal
With 207 legislators in the 294-member assembly, the BJP comfortably crosses that mark in every contest and is therefore in a position to win all three seats on its own.
