Court orders bring relief to Cong in MP ahead of RS polls

Bhopal

, Jun 9 () In a relief to Congress in

Madhya Pradesh

ahead of the June 11 Rajya

Sabha

polls, the High Court today cleared the way for its two MLAs to vote for the party nominee in separate decisions, improving its prospects to gain one of the three seats. While in one case the Jabalpur bench of the High Court directed the Election Commission to facilitate postal ballot to a Congress legislator, who is undergoing treatment at a Mumbai hospital. In an order its Indore bench granted bail to another party MLA, who was under judicial custody in an alleged rape case. These decisions would enable the two MLAs to vote in the election where the Congress has fielded

Vivek Tankha

as its nominee. Congress has 57 MLAs in the house - one short of what is required for it to sail through to the Upper House. The High Court's principal bench in Jabalpur directed the EC to make available postal ballot to Leader of Opposition

Satyadev Katare

, admitted in a hospital. Justice S K

Gangele

issued the direction while hearing a petition of MP

Congress Committee

challenging the EC's June 2 decision that quashed their plea seeking the use of ballot paper in the RS poll. Earlier in the day, Congress MLA from

Barwani Ramesh Patel

was granted bail in a rape case by the court. Patel, arrested in connection with an alleged rape case four months ago, was granted bail by

Justice J K Jain

, his lawyer

P K Mukati

said. Earlier, the Congress had plans to airlift Katare and also another legislator

Govardhan Upadhyay

, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Indore. Instead, Upadhyay will be brought here for voting in an ambulance, Congress state Chief Spokesman

K K Mishra

told . Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and former

Union

minister Kamal Nath is expected to arrive here shortly and camp till the voting is over, seeking to ensure Tankha's victory. BJP has fielded eminent journalist

M J Akbar

and party strategist

Anil Madhav Dave

as its candidates and both are set to win on the basis of the party's strength in the state

Assembly

. The party's third nominee

Vinod Gotia

, who has entered the fray as an Independent, may now feel the heat after the two High Court orders. The saffron party needs nine extra votes to ensure win of Gotia. Presently, it has 49 surplus votes excluding

Rajendra Meshram

, who has been restrained from voting by a Supreme Court order in connection with an election petition, an official of the Assembly told . Bahujan Samaj Party has already issued a whip to its four MLAs to vote in favour of Tankha. In the 230-member Assembly, the ruling BJP has 166 members followed by Congress (57), BSP (4) and Independents (3). CORR LAL MAS ARS NM KND
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