THE Congress suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls which were marred by cross-voting in all the 3 States though it won 3 seats in Karnataka while in Uttar Pradesh BJP won 8 seats and Samajwadi Party 2 seats. Samajwadi Party candidate Alok Ranjan conceded defeat in the Rajya Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. In Karnataka, Ajay Maken, G C Chandrasekhar and Syed Naseer Hussain, all from the Congress, and Narayansa K Bhandage (BJP) got elected to the Upper House in the polls in which elected MLAs were the voters. Five candidates, including D Kupendra Reddy of the JD(S) who lost the election, were in the fray for the four seats. BJP MLA S T Somashekar voted for Maken, while another party legislator A Shivaram Hebbar abstained.

 

The BJP said it was exploring the possibility of taking legal action them and lodging a complaint with the Speaker U T Khader seeking their disqualification from the Assembly for violating the whip issued to them to vote in favour of the party candidate. “We have got the information that Somashekar has done cross-voting. I consulted with advocate Vivek Reddy who is our State legal cell president and a High Court lawyer. We will ask the Speaker to initiate action (of disqualification) against him (Somashekar) and explore the possibilities to take steps in accordance with the law,” Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly R Ashoka said. Somashekar had earlier quit the Congress and joined the BJP. He served as a Minister in the previous BJP Government and was made the Mysuru district in-charge Minister back then. He and Hebbar had in fact distanced themselves from the BJP in recent months, and increasingly began identifying with the Congress.

 

The BJP (66 MLAs) and the JD(S) (19 MLAs) combined had fielded Kupendra Reddy though they did not have the requisite votes to get him elected. The NDA partners said they were expecting “conscience votes”, apparently from the rival Congress camp, in favour of Reddy. Amid cross-voting, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan on Tuesday won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, defeating ruling Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi, officials said. The contest was tied at 34-34 votes, after which Mahajan was declared winner by draw of lots, they said. It is a major jolt for the Congress which has 40 MLAs in the 68-member State Assembly and claimed support of the independents. The result made it clear that nine MLAs voted in favour of the BJP which was confident that Congress MLAs would exercise ‘conscience vote’. At present, the BJP has 25 MLAs in the State Assembly. Meanwhile, all eight BJP candidates emerged victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and the Opposition Samajwadi Party suffered a jolt with one of its three nominees facing defeat due to cross-voting by some of its legislators. “The election results have been declared. All the eight candidates fielded by the BJP have emerged victorious. Two SP candidates -- Jaya Bachchan and Ramji Lal Suman -- have won the elections,” a senior election official told PTI. The third SP candidate, Alok Ranjan, conceded defeat.

 

The victorious BJP candidates were Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant (Bind), party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh, former Agra mayor Naveen Jain, and industrialist Sanjay Seth. Seth, a former SP leader, joined the BJP in 2019. The ruling BJP and the principal opposition SP had the numbers to send seven and three members respectively unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, but the BJP fielded an eighth candidate, setting the stage for a keen contest on one seat. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath congratulated the winning candidates of the BJP. In a post on ‘X’ in Hindi, Adityanath said, “Hearty congratulations to all the respected candidates of @BJP4India who won the biennial elections of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh! There is full confidence that under the leadership of respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, all of you will be helpful in achieving the promise of antyodaya and the resolve of a developed India. Best wishes to all of you for your bright tenure.”

 

Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak also congratulated the winning candidates of the BJP. In a post on ‘X’, Maurya said, “Certainly, this spectacular victory is a guarantee of development based on the basic mantra of Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji: Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas.” Pathak said, “This victory is a symbol of the country and the state’s unwavering faith in the illustrious Prime Minister’s ‘Viksit Bharat Modi kee Guarantee’.” Samajwadi Party chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI that two of the party candidates -- actor-MP Jaya Bachchan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman -- emerged victorious. “Jaya Bachchan got 41 votes, while Ramji Lal Suman got 40 votes. The third candidate Alok Ranjan lost the polls,” he said. Ranjan, a retired IAS officer, conceded defeat and congratulated the winners. Asked if he got 19 votes, Ranjan, a former chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, told PTI, “Yes, this is what I am seeing on news channels.... Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to the national president of the Samajwadi Party (Akhilesh Yadav) who nominated me and the SP voters who had voted for me.” The Congress voted for its INDIA bloc partner Samajwadi Party, while reports suggested that the lone BSP MLA casted his vote in favour of the BJP candidate. At present there are 399 members in the 403-member UP Legislative Assembly with four vacancies. Out of the 399 MLAs, 395 exercised their voting rights on Tuesday: three of them could not vote as they are in jail, while officials could not confirm the other MLA who did not cast the ballot.

 

To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needed nearly 37 first-preference votes. Amid concerns over cross-voting and SP chief whip Manoj Pandey quitting while polling was underway, party president Akhilesh Yadav warned action would be taken against such MLAs. “Those who wanted to profit from the situation will go. Those who were given assurances (by the BJP) will go,” Yadav told reporters at the assembly before casting his vote. “The BJP can adopt all tricks to win elections. It must have given assurance (to some MLAs) of some profit... BJP will do anything to win,” he added. “Those who don’t have the courage to fight will go. Some might have been afraid for their security, some might have been threatened or promised something.” Talking to reporters earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Maurya claimed that Yadav made a mistake by fielding his third candidate and that he did not have the numbers. SP MLAs Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh and Rakesh Pandey, who were among 8 party MLAs to have skipped Yadav’s Monday night meeting, arrived in the same vehicle.

 

“We will cast our votes as per our inner voices,” Rakesh Pratap Singh said. High drama in Uttar Pradesh where amid concerns over cross-voting, SP chief whip Manoj Pandey quit. As many as eight SP MLAs also did not attend a meeting called by the Akhilesh Yadav on Monday. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak said on Tuesday night that all the eight candidates of the BJP won in the Rajya Sabha elections from the State. The ruling BJP fielded eight candidates and the Opposition Samajwadi Party three for elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats from the State. Samajwadi Party chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said two of the party’s three candidates -- Jaya Bachchan and Ramji Lal Suman -- have emerged victorious. The third SP candidate Alok Ranjan conceded defeat earlier. In a post in Hindi on X, Deputy Chief Minister Maurya congratulated the eight BJP candidates who won. “Certainly, this spectacular victory is a guarantee of development based on the basic mantra of Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji: Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas,” he said. Another deputy Chief Minister, Pathak, also congratulated the winning BJP candidates. In a post in Hindi on X, he said, “This victory is a symbol of the country and the state’s unwavering faith in the illustrious Prime Minister’s ‘Viksit Bharat Modi kee Guarantee’.”