New Delhi: The much-talked Rajya Sabha election will be held in Gujarat today with BJP president Amit Shah, himself one of the four contestants for the three vacant seats is pitted against Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel.

With six Congress MLAs having resigned from the 182-member state assembly, a candidate fetching 45 votes would ensure victory. This number could come down as there is a distinct possibility of some MLAs belonging to the Shankersinh Vaghela camp abstaining or exercising the NOTA option.

The Congress herded 44 of its MLAs, who returned from Bengaluru on Monday morning, to a resort near Anand, a stronghold of the state party president Bharatsinh Solanki. No visitors were allowed, even on the pretext of Raksha Bandhan, and the two women MLAs tied 'rakhis' to the 42 men.

The two other candidates in fray are Union minister Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput, who quit as Congress chief whip to join the BJP last month. The BJP did a mock poll under the supervision of Shah to ensure all MLAs get it right on Tuesday.

On the eve of the election, Shah appeared supremely confident of ensuring victory of all three party candidates, while Patel claimed he would get support from some BJP MLAs. Patel slammed the BJP for "turning democracy into a banana republic". Patel, who was with the 44 MLAs at the Anand resort, seemed confident of getting support from two MLAs of NCP and one from JD(U).

All the six MLAs who have resigned from the Congress belong to the Vaghela faction and there are at least those many Vaghela loyalists who are still in the Congress. The results of the election, which will be conducted from 9 am to 4 pm, will be known by 6 pm on Tuesday.