New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared to have its way in the Rajya Sabha polls, managing to win three out of four seats in Gujarat with the help of a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA, and even winning the lone seat in Manipur, with the assembly Speaker playing a proactive role.
Of the 24 Rajya Sabha seats that went to the polls Friday, the Congress won 5, the BJP 10 — subject to the Election Commission’s formal declaration of the Gujarat results that the former is objecting to — while regional parties won the rest.
The BJP’s tally may reach 10 if the Congress’ objections in Gujarat are not sustained — the opposition party has lodged its protest against one BJP MLA’s “proxy vote” and another from state education minister Bhupendra Singh Chudasama, whose 2017 election was voided by the Gujarat High Court, but stayed by the Supreme Court. The NCP’s Kandhal Jadeja voted against his party’s whip, after meeting CM Vijay Rupani and Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani, helping BJP nominee Narhari Amin defeat Congress’ Bharatsinh Solanki.
Meanwhile, in Manipur, the lone Rajya Sabha seat was won by the BJP, a day after a political crisis played out with nine of the party-led ruling coalition’s MLAs quitting. The BJP victory was a result of cross-voting by two Congress MLAs, and the Speaker allowing three of the seven Congress MLAs who had earlier crossed over to the BJP to vote. The other four Congress MLAs have been disqualified.
The Congress, however, has sent a letter to the Election Commission to hold the results of the poll in the state, demanding a cancellation of two votes — one by the Speaker and the other by its own party’s MLA.
Five candidates were also elected unopposed — four in Karnataka, including former PM H.D. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge, and one BJP candidate in Arunachal Pradesh.
Prior to these polls, the NDA held 91 seats in the Rajya Sabha, of which the BJP had a share of 75, while the UPA held 61 seats, including the Congress’ 39. Now, the BJP’s tally could go up to 85 seats in the 250-member House.
Also read: Cross-voting, turncoat MLAs allowed to vote: How BJP won lone Rajya Sabha seat in Manipur
Not much drama in Rajasthan and MP
In Rajasthan, both Congress candidates, senior leader K.C. Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi, won, while the third seat up for grabs was won by BJP’s Rajendra Gehlot. The Congress now has three Rajya Sabha MPs from Rajasthan out of the state’s total of 10.
The ruling Congress had moved its MLAs to a resort last week, fearing “poaching” by the opposition BJP. However, there were no defections before the polls.
In Madhya Pradesh, meanwhile BJP nominees Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki won two of the three seats up for election, while senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh won the third. However, the ruling BJP reportedly suffered a loss of two votes — MLA Gopilal Jatav cast a cross-vote, while Jugal Kishore Bagri’s vote was cancelled on “technical grounds”.
Regional parties’ victories
The other Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs Friday included four from Andhra Pradesh, two from Jharkhand, and one each from Mizoram and Meghalaya.
The ruling YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh registered a comfortable victory on all four seats. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party holds 151 of the state’s 175 assembly seats, but the election had to take place because Telugu Desam Party (TDP) fielded a candidate, despite its strength of just 23 MLAs.
Three TDP “rebel” MLAs — Vallabhaneni Vamsi from Gannavaram, Karanam Balarama Krishna Murthy from Chirala and Maddali Giridhar from Guntur (West) — reportedly cross-voted, and had their votes invalidated.
In Jharkhand, where two seats were up for elections, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which heads the ruling alliance, and the BJP won one seat each. JMM president Shibu Soren and BJP state president Deepak Prakash emerged victorious.
The National People’s Party in Meghalaya and the Mizo National Front in Mizoram also emerged victorious.
Also read: BJP objects to Congress MLA voting in RS polls, says he violated quarantine rules
Duffer Gandhi is the BJP’s most effective spokesperson. Every time Duffer speaks, it becomes apparent to all what an idiot he is – and now his anti-national statements almost ensure that BJP will come back with a super majority in 2024!!
Well done Duffer, you are such a moron that even your traitor Mummy must be ashamed of you by now!