Rajya Sabha polls: BJP now largest party in the Upper House
NEW DELHI : The BJP is set to consolidate its position as the largest party in the Rajya Sabha as the results of biennial elections to 58 seats in the House have widened the gap between it and the Congress, even though a majority will continue to elude the ruling NDA.
The BJP has won 18 seats and the Congress 9 with results of the 10 Uttar Pradesh and two Jharkhand seats yet to be announced. The saffron party’s strong majority in the UP assembly will result in its win in at least eight seats and it is banking on support of independents and rebels to clinch a ninth seat.
The BJP currently has 58 members in the Rajya Sabha followed by 54 of the Congress. Among the 58 outgoing parliamentarians, 17 are from the BJP and 14 from the Congress. As many as 16 and five members of the BJP and the Congress were declared elected uncontested out of a total 33 on March 15, the last day of withdrawal of candidates. The BJP will gain 10-11 seats, depending on the final outcome of the Uttar Pradesh elections.
The total strength of the Rajya Sabha is 245. However, the BJP-led NDA’s chances of inching towards a majority have suffered a setback with the TDP, which has six members, walking out of it.
The results of the hotly-contested election to 28 seats of the Rajya Sabha have started pouring in from across the country. BJP, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh, has managed to win nine seats from the state, while Samajwadi Party has won 1 seat here.
Arun Jaitley, GVL Narasimha, Sakaldeep Rajbhar and Anil Jain were among eight winners from the ruling party in UP, while Jaya Bachchan won from the Samajwadi Party. The counting of votes was initially put on hold in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, but it resumed after the EC gave its clearance. Some parties have earlier raised objections over cross-voting.
Among others who have been elected to Rajya Sabha are – BJP’s Saroj Pandey, Kumar Ketkar of Congress, Narayan Rane and Prakash Javadekar (both BJP), V Muralidharan of BJP, Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) and Vandana Chavan (NCP). The voting for Rajya Sabha elections for 25 seats across six states – Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana – began at 9 am on Friday.
For the 58 Rajya Sabha seats, 33 candidates from 10 states have already been declared elected unopposed on March 15, 2018. Seven union ministers including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar were among them. This is the victory of democracy and it is for the welfare of Uttar Pradesh, says Mahendra Nath Pandey, BJP state president
The nine BJP members who have been elected to Rajya Sabha from UP are Arun Jaitley, Ashok Bajpai, Vijaya Pal Singh Tomar, Sakal Deep Rajbhar, Kanta Kardam, Anil Jain, Harnath Singh Yadav, GVL Narsimha Rao and Anil Agarwal.
Anil Agarwal of the BJP has won the tenth Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh, defeating BSP’s BR Ambedkar in the counting of second preference votes, say reports.One vote each of BSP, BJP declared invalid in UP due to faulty voting, reports ANI.
Congress’s Dr L Hanumanthaiah, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrasekhar and BJP’s Rajeev Chandrashekar were declared .elected by the returning officer, says PTI. The ruling Congress in Karnataka today bagged three Rajya Sabha seats and BJP one in the biennial election.
KCR-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) bagged all three Rajya Sabha seats. Three TRS candidates – B Prakash, J Santosh Kumar and AB Lingaiah Yadav – were elected to the Upper House. Congress candidate and former union minister P Balram Naik was defeated.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee flashes a victory sign after four TMC candidates were elected to Rajya Sabha.
Among others who have been elected are – Kumar Ketkar of Congress, Narayan Rane and Prakash Javadekar and V Muralidharan (all from BJP), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) and Vandana Chavan (NCP). All of them have been elected unoppo. BJP’s Saroj Pandey has elected to the Rajya Sabha from Chhattisgarh by beating Congress’s Lekhram Sahu.(With Agency Inputs ).
