Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged eight out of the ten Rajya Sabha seats contested in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. The remaining two seats went in favor of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which fielded three candidates but lost one seat due to cross voting in favor of the BJP.
The Rajya Sabha elections turned out to be a major blow for the Samajwadi Party, with its chief whip resigning from the post while the elections were ongoing. This came as a shock to the SP Supremo Akhilesh Yadav only a day after eight MLA’s had skipped a meeting arranged by him. “Those who want to profit from the situation will go. Those who were given assurances by the BJP will go,” the opposition leader said.
The BJP won all eight seats that it contested, giving the party a major boost in the 403 member house. General Secretary of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh Amarpal Maurya, Chief spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former Union Minister RPN Singh, former Agra mayor Naveen Jain, former MLA Sadhna Singh, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant, former MP Tejveer Singh, and industrialist Sanjay Seth were the winning candidates fielded by the BJP. Sanjay Seth was the candidate who had reaped the benefits of cross voting and had earlier served as the treasurer of the SP.
SP candidates Jaya Bacchan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman were elected to the Upper House of Parliament. Jaya Bacchan wielded the most votes in the elections, with 41 members voting for her. Congress won two seats as well, being the alliance partner of the SP.
The BJP, however, suffered a blow in Karnataka, with the Congress winning three out of the four seats, whereas the BJP secured one. This state also witnessed cross voting where a BJP MLA voted for a Congress candidate.
In Himachal Pradesh, the voting resulted in a tie, with both the Congress and BJP getting 34 votes each. The results were declared on the basis of a draw of lots, with at least six Congress members voting against the party.