A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress announced their respective candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election for the three seats from Madhya Pradesh, buzz over cross-voting picked up pace on Friday with leaders of the ruling party hinting at fielding a candidate for the third seat and the Congress calling a meeting of its MLAs.On Thursday, the BJP fielded its national general secretary Tarun Chugh and State unit secretary Rajneesh Agrawal for the two seats from the State it is comfortably positioned to win owing to its numerical advantage. The Congress fielded former MP Meenakshi Natarajan, considered close to senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, with just enough numbers to win one seat.The three seats that are going to fall vacant are currently held by Union Minister George Kurien, BJP MP Sumer Singh Solanki, and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.In the 230-seat Assembly, the BJP currently has 164 MLAs while the Congress has 64 even after the disqualification of Datia MLA Rajendra Bharti in April after his conviction in a fraud case. One seat is held by the Bharat Adivasi Party.Each candidate needs 58 first-preference votes to secure the seat. As per the numbers, the BJP is poised to win two seats with 48 MLAs to spare. The party will require additional 10 votes to secure a third seat. While the Congress appears to be safely positioned to win one seat, brewing discontent within the party against Ms. Natarajan’s candidature has triggered fears of cross-voting.The numbers gameDespite having 64 MLAs, the Congress will have only 62 legislators who will vote. Party MLA from Vijaypur Mukesh Malhotra, convicted in an poll affidavit case, has been barred from voting in the Rajya Sabha poll.Another party MLA, Nirmala Sapre from Bina, had unofficially joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll and is currently facing disqualification proceedings in the High Court. This leaves the Opposition party with 62 legal votes in the upcoming election for which the polling will be held on June 18.Soon after Ms. Natarajan’s name was declared, voices of dissent surfaced with leaders claiming she “did not have an active connect with local leaders”. Naresh Gyanchandani, a leader from Bhopal, took to X saying that his party had “made a mistake” in candidate selection.On Friday, while BJP leaders did not disclose if the party was planning to field a candidate for the third seat, some hinted at the “possibility of cross-voting”. “Cross-voting is no longer just a concern. Clear signs of it are beginning to appear,” said State BJP media in-charge Ashish Agarwal. Published - June 06, 2026 12:57 am IST