The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured victories in keenly contested fights in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh while the Congress won Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27.
Overall, elections were held for electing 15 candidates in three states- Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh. Of these, 10 seats went to the BJP, three seats to the Congress party and two seats to the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Uttar Pradesh
The BJP won eight out of 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh while the Samajwadi Party won two seats.
At least five Samajwadi Party MLAs have reportedly cross-voted for the BJP, ensuring that the saffron party won eight seats, instead of the expected seven in accordance with numbers in the UP House.
“All our 8 candidates have won today. I congratulate all the winning candidates. I thank the people due to whose votes they won. Two SP candidates have also won. So, congratulations to Akhilesh Yadav too,” BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya told news agency ANI.
Himachal Pradesh
The biggest shock came from Himachal Pradesh where the BJP won the lone Rajya Sabha seat. The BJP’s Harsh Mahajan was elected as the Rajya Sabha MP, defeating the Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi on the basis of a draw of lots after a tie between both the candidates with 34 votes each.
The results were unexpected for the Congress, the ruling party in the hill state with 40 MLAs and the support of three independent legislators. But, as per reports, nine MLAs, six of Congress and three independents, cross-voted in favour of the BJP candidate.
“This is the victory of the BJP, of PM Narendra Modi, of Amit Shah,” Mahajan said.
The BJP had only 25 MLAs in the hill state, but has benefitted from cross-voting.
Singhvi conceded defeat and said, “First of all, I extend heartiest congratulations to Harsh Mahajan (BJP candidate), he has won. He deserves my congratulations. I would like to tell his party – introspect and think. When a 25-member party fields a candidate against a 43-member party, there is just one message — we will shamelessly do that which is not permitted by the law.”
Karnataka
In Karnataka, all three Congress candidates Ajay Maken, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrashekhar won with 47, 46 and 46 votes respectively. Further, BJP candidate Narayana Bandage won while BJP-JD(S) candidate Kupendra Reddy lost.
JD(S) candidate and real estate businessman D Kupendra Reddy lost out on an Upper House berth, falling short by nine votes.
Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including JD(S) contestant D Kupendra Reddy. The elections were marred by cross-voting. While one of the BJP MLAs, ST Somashekar, voted for the Congress’ Maken, the other, A Shivaram Hebbar, abstained.
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“This shows the unity and integrity of the Congress. I thank all the MLAs, party workers and the media. I’m very happy to inform you that all Congress candidates have won. I thank all voters, CM and party workers and the AICC President also. I would like to thank Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge,” said Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar.
source by: Mint News
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