Maharashtra
Elections were held yesterday for vacant Rajya Sabha seats across the country. In Maharashtra, the BJP fielded three candidates, the Shiv Sena two, and the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party one each in the six-member assembly. Both the ruling party and the opposition BJP have complained that MLAs have switched parties during the election. The ruling party complained to the Election Commission that the 2 votes cast should be declared invalid. Opposition parties have stated they will not run in the by-elections.
Both sides also called on the Election Commission to cancel the election. This caused a delay in the counting of votes. Votes were finally counted 8 hours late. The BJP won 3 seats. Tananjhe Mahathir, who was fielded as the BJP’s third candidate, defeated Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Pawar. The BJP candidate unexpectedly got 10 more votes. Apart from this, Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party, Imran of the Congress Party, Sanjay Rawat of the Shiv Sena, Pius Goyal and Anil Ponde of the BJP won.
The election results are seen as a major setback for the Shiv Sena alliance. Legislative elections in the state have been announced on the 20th. The BJP has fielded an additional candidate in this election as well. Some have switched parties and voted for the BJP, even though they have MLAs staying in star hotels for the Rajya Sabha elections. Independent MLAs are said to have voted for them in large numbers.
Karnataka
In the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka, the BJP has won three seats and the Congress one. In Karnataka, three people, including Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have won on behalf of the BJP. Jairam Ramesh won on behalf of the Congress.
Rajasthan
In Rajasthan, three Congress candidates won. Only one BJP candidate won. Zee TV owner Subhash Chandra lost the election to a BJP supporter.
Haryana
In Haryana, too, there was a delay in the counting of votes following complaints that members had switched parties. After several hours of delay, it was first announced on behalf of the Congress that Ajay Mahan had won on behalf of the Congress party in the polls. But Karthikeyan Sharma, who contested independently with a BJP ally, was declared the winner after a ballot was declared invalid. The BJP-Way also won in second place. 57 Rajya Sabha members across the country are vacant. Of these, a maximum of 11 seats are vacant in Uttar Pradesh. Of these, 41 candidates were elected without contest and the remaining seats were up for grabs yesterday.