In Karnataka, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as well as her BJP counterparts Jaggesh and Lahar Singh, and Congress Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh have been declared winners. The disagreement between Congress and JD(S) helped the BJP win an extra seat though it did not have enough first preference votes.
After counting of the first preference votes, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh have secured wins with 46 votes each.Counting of second preference votes under progress.
The counting for Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra was delayed on Friday evening after the BJP raised objections to the votes cast by three MLAs of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), alleging violation of rules.
The counting has been held up, a state legislature official said. "Cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad, Yashomati Thakur and Sena legislator Suhas Kande violated the model code for voting. We have made an appeal before the Election Commission of India, seeking that their votes be held invalid," said a state BJP leader. - PTI.
After casting his vote in favour of Congress in Rajya Sabha polls, Bharatiya Tribal Party legislator Rajkumar Roat on Friday targeted its own party chief Velaram Ghoghra, saying he has become "old" to understand the issues.
BTP legislators, Roat and Ramprasad Dindor voted in support of the ruling Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls on Friday going against their party chief who had issued whip to its MLAs to not take part in the election process.
"I would not like to say about our party state president. Now, he has become old and it is likely that he could not understand. But, our decision is for the benefit of tribals and people of the region. On the basis of this, we have decided to vote in the favour of the Congress candidates," Roat told reporters after voting. - PTI.
All 200 Rajasthan MLAs had cast their vote for the Rajya Sabha elections by Friday afternoon. The counting of votes for the four seats will start at 5 pm.
Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria admitted that one BJP MLA has cross-voted, which might make the victory of Independent candidate Subhash Chandra difficult. - PTI.
A majority of Haryana MLAs on Friday cast their vote for the two Rajya Sabha seats in the state while Independent legislator Balraj Kundu decided to abstain, saying the ruling BJP has been hit by scams while the Congress has "insulted" people by fielding outsider Ajay Maken.
Congress' Kuldeep Bishnoi was among the MLAs who cast vote immediately after polling began at 9 am while many of his party legislators reached here from Raipur via Delhi to cast their vote later in the day.
The polling for the two seats, which started at 9 am, will continue till 4 pm and counting of votes will be taken up soon after, officials said.
The BJP-JJP MLAs and some Independents, who were lodged in a luxury hotel on the outskirts of Chandigarh for the past two days, reached the Assembly complex here in a bus to cast their vote.
Openly defiant, JD(S) lawmaker K Srinivas Gowda said Friday that he voted for the Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha election.
“I love the Congress. That’s why I voted for them,” Gowda told reporters.
The Kolar MLA said he is upset with JD(S) legislature party leader H D Kumaraswamy. “Also, no one from the party asked me to vote for the JD(S) candidate,” he said.
As a cloak of nervousness blanketed the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi and Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, voting for the six Rajya Sabha seats with seven candidates started briskly here on Friday morning.
Till mid-day (12 noon), nearly 200 of the 285 MLAs in the 288-strong House comprising Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress and its allies, and the Bharatiya Janata Party and its supporters had cast their votes in the polls which promise to have a Hitchcockian finale this evening.(IANS)
As voting got under way for the four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan, the ruling Congress on Friday exuded confidence that it has the numbers to win three seats while the Opposition BJP said it expects a "miracle" when the results are announced.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the Congress will comfortably win three out of the four seats.
Fearing cross-voting, all three political parties have issued a whip, asking their respective MLAs to vote for their candidates. The worry of ensuring that its numbers are intact and there is no cross-voting is greater for JD(S) and the party had last night shifted its MLAs to a hotel in the city. Its Kolar MLA K Srinivas Gowda has already declared that he will vote for the Congress candidate.
The Bombay High Court has rejectedMaharashtra minister Nawab Malik's plea for temporary release from prison for casting vote in Rajya Sabha polls.Yesterday, the special PMLA court had dismissed the petition of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik.
Despite not having the adequate number of votes to win the fourth seat from the state Assembly, all the three political parties -- BJP, Congress and JD(S) -- have fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election. The six candidates in the fray for the Rajya Sabha polls from the state are -- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya from the BJP, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan from the Congress, and former MP D Kupendra Reddy from the JD(S).
"I am sure that all our threecandidates are going to get elected. Even Siddaramaiah will think 2-3 times before voting for Congress, I think he will also vote for BJP. Anybody with value for democratic principles will never vote for Congress and JD(S)," says Karnataka minister CN Ashwath Narayan.
“One of our MLAs Srinivas Gowda has voted for the Congress. This is because of Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and Ramesh Kumar,” says JD(S) legislature party leader HD Kumaraswamy.
The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has decided to vote in favour of the Congress candidate in fray for the Rajya Sabha polls from Maharashtra being held on Friday.
The announcement was made by AIMIM Lok Sabha member from Aurangabad Imtiaz Jaleel hours before the polling slated from 9 am.
BJP is attempting to fish in troubled waters of Congress in Haryana and Rajasthan.
Fielding media baron and former Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana Subhash Chandra from Rajasthan this time has led to a lot of speculation in the political circles in the desert state where the Congress leadership is wide split between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot camps.
Though both have put up a united face ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, it remains to be seen if the BJP can pull the strings for Chandra. BJP had lost power in Rajasthan in 2018 and even the gain of one Rajya Sabha seat in the desert state could act as a morale booster for it ahead of 2023 state polls.
BJP: Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, Dhananjay Mahadik
Shiv Sena:Sanjay Raut, Sanjay Pawar
NCP:Praful Patel
Congress:Imran Pratapgarhi
To make up for the losses, BJP is trying to win extra seats in the election for the remaining slots on Friday. It has put up an extra candidate each in Maharashtra and Karnataka officially and backed one independent each in Rajasthan and Haryana. However given the numbers it has, it is unlikely to even retain the 11 seats that it earlier held.
The Election Commission on Thursday appointed special observers to oversee the poll process amid apprehensions of horse-trading expressed by political parties, which have once again taken the resort route to protect their MLAs from being poached.
Candidates for 41 of 57 Rajya Sabha vacancies which are to be filled up in this slot of biennial elections have already been elected unopposed in other states in which NDA has won one seat less than their previous number.
All eyes will be on the extra candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls in Rajasthan and Haryana when elections will be held for the remaining 16 seats in states including Karnataka and Maharashtra on Friday.
All eyes will be on the extra candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls in Rajasthan and Haryana when elections will be held for the remaining 16 seats in states including Karnataka and Maharashtra on Friday.
The Rajya Sabha has a total of 245 seats, out of which the BJP, at present, occupies 95 and Congress occupies 29. Although the retirements might lead to the BJP suffering loss, it is speculated that they would maintain the 100-mark tally.
All eyes will be on the extra candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls in Rajasthan and Haryana when elections will be held for the remaining 16 seats in states including Karnataka and Maharashtra on Friday.
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