Ruling BJP emerged as the biggest gainer in the Rajya Sabha elections held on Saturday, while Opposition Congress retained its position as the single largest party in the Upper House of Parliament.
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He alleged that horse trading had taken place in the polls and “democracy has been murdered”.
In the Rajya Sabha bypoll necessitated following the demise of sitting Congress member Praveen Rashtrapal from Gujarat in May, BJP wrested the seat. The Samajwadi Party now has 19 members, with a gain of four seats, while JDU and RJD have a combined strength of 12.
Polling in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Haryana began on Saturday. For 58 seats that had fallen vacant, 31 candidates were elected unopposed last week.
Polling began at Assembly premises in the state capitals at 9 AM and will continue till 4 PM. Its nominees? Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Mahesh Poddar were declared elected to the Upper House of Parliament from the state.
BJP-supported independent candidate Preeti Mahapatra lost. The election in UP also demands a closer look as 12 candidates have been fielded for 11 seats. But Sibal can draw heart from the fact that she has already extended backing for a Congress candidate in Madhya Pradesh by promising one vote required for senior Supreme Court lawyer Vivek Tankha, fielded by Congress.
Also sheltered here are many top Congress leaders.
Hooda, who had been at the helm of the state as Congress chief minister for 10 years, was apparently feeling uneasy ever since Ashok Tanwar was made state party chief by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress suffered a jolt with Sibal getting only 25 first preference votes despite the 8-member RLD committing four votes each to Congress and SP.
But Gotia’s future looks bleak as even if the 48 surplus votes of BJP goes to Gotia, he won’t scrape through given he needs 10 more ballots to reach the magic number.
All three candidates of the Congress – Oscar Fernandes, Jairam Ramesh and KC Ramamurthy – and the BJP’s Niramala Sitharaman were voted to the Rajya Sabha from the state.
The Congress showcased the election victory as an indicator of the times to come.
JD(S) has been rocked by “dissidence” in recent months with several of its MLAs unhappy with the leadership over its style of functioning and “unilateral” decisions by the Gowda family which maintains a stranglehold over the party. JMM MLA Charma Linda and Congress MLA Devendra Singh could not cast their vote.
Meanwhile, after the BJP registered a complaint against two Congress MLAs arrest warrants were issued for them, sending Congress in a tizzy. The BJP winners were former journalist M.J. Akbar and Anil Madhav Dave. “Union Finance Minister will attend the meeting on June 14”, an official said. Kamal Nath had been camping in Bhopal since Thursday, marshaling efforts to keep the Congress flock of MLAs together.
A candidate needed 40 votes to win in Rajasthan.
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All four candidates of BJP including union cabinet minister Venkaiah Naidu got elected from Rajasthan.
