Derek O'Brien, Saket Gokhale among 6 candidates named by TMC for Rajya Sabha polls
Kolkata/ New Delhi (PTI): The Trinamool Congress on Monday announced its candidates for the six Rajya Sabha seats in West Bengal that will go to polls later this month.
Among these candidates were Derek O'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Dola Sen. O'Brien, an MP since 2011, is the TMC's leader in Rajya Sabha, while Ray who was first sent to the Upper House of Parliament in 2012 is the deputy chief whip, and Sen, a senior leader and trade unionist, became an MP in 2017.
The newcomers on the list were Bangla Sanskriti Mancha president Samirul Islam, TMC's Alipurduar district president Prakash Chik Baraik, and RTI activist and TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale.
Besides O'Brien, Ray and Sen, the tenures of Congress MP Pradip Bhattacharya, TMC's Assam leader Sushmita Dev and its Darjeeling leader Shanta Chhetri's ended, following which these six seats fell vacant.
A seventh Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal is also vacant after former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned as a TMC MP in April. A bypoll will be held in that seat along with the elections to these six seats on July 24.
"We take great pleasure in announcing the candidatures of Derek O'Brien, Dola Sen, Sukhendu Sekhar, Samirul Islam, Prakash Chik Baraik and Saket Gokhale for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections," the TMC said in a tweet.
"May they persist in their dedication to serving the people and uphold Trinamool's enduring legacy of indomitable spirit and advocacy for the RIGHTS OF EVERY INDIAN. We extend our heartfelt wishes to all," the party tweeted from its official handle on Monday morning," it added.
The TMC has 216 MLAs in the 294-member assembly and enjoys the support of five BJP MLAs, who switched over to the ruling party but are yet to resign from the House. The BJP has a strength of 70 in the assembly.
Along with these seats from West Bengal, elections will be held for four Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat and Goa.
According to practice, the counting of votes will take place at 5 pm on July 24 itself, an hour after the conclusion of the poll process.
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Air India flight from Mumbai makes 'priority' landing in Bhopal after snag; return leg cancelled
Bhopal (PTI): A Bhopal-bound Air India flight from Mumbai carrying 175 persons on board made a “priority” landing here on Sunday due to a snag, an airport official said.
The aircraft landed safely at Bhopal airport at 3.20 pm, he said.
Consequently, the return leg of the flight from Bhopal to Mumbai, with 178 passengers booked, was cancelled, the official said.
AAI-run Bhopal airport said in a statement that Air India flight AI 633 “reported a technical issue to Air Traffic Control (ATC) during the flight from Mumbai to Bhopal”.
Immediately, all prescribed safety protocols were activated, and seamless coordination was ensured between ATC, airline ground operations, CISF and airpiort fire and rescue team of Bhopal airport, it said in a statement.
The flight, carrying 175 persons, including 166 passengers and nine crew members, landed safely at Bhopal airport at 3.20 pm, the airport operator said.
All necessary assistance and support were extended by the airport and airline teams as per the requirements of the flight crew, it said.
“Due to the technical issue, the aircraft was declared unserviceable, and as a precautionary measure, the return flight AI-634 (Bhopal to Mumbai) was cancelled by the airline to facilitate detailed inspection and rectification,” the statement said.
