Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections in three states – Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh – are underway with 15 seats up for grabs. The polls are likely to be highly competitive for three seats in two states governed by the Congress and one seat in Uttar Pradesh. The counting of the votes is likely to begin at 5 pm onwards. Due to the fear of cross-voting in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, the Congress and Samajwadi Party are keeping a close eye on their MLAs.
In a setback for the Samajwadi Party, while an MLA (Manoj Kumar Pandey) resigned from the party, two other indicated that they will vote for the ruling party candidate. According to Zee News TV, at least 7 SP MLAs held a meeting with the BJP minister. To win a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs about 37 votes of the first preference.
The Congress has shifted its MLAs to a hotel in Karnataka before the biennial poll for four seats. The contest is among five candidates, including Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain, and GC Chandrasekhar from Congress, Narayansa Bandage from BJP, and Kupendra Reddy from JD(S). All parties have issued whips to their MLAs, raising fears of cross-voting.
In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress has whipped its MLAs to vote for its nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The BJP has slammed this move, saying that lawmakers should vote as per their choice. Out of the 56 Rajya Sabha seats at stake today, 41 have already been assured of their place in the upper house.
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05:15 PM: Counting Of Votes For RS Polls Begins
05:10 PM: BJP Confident Of Winning All Seats In UP
UP Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak says, “BJP’s eight candidates are leading. The results will be out soon.” The Rajya Sabha elections took place today. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP and the Samajwadi Party have nominated eight and three candidates respectively.
04:50: UP Assembly Speaker Says This On RS polls
“All guidelines of ECI were followed during voting, results to be out by evening,” says UP Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana on RS polls
04:35 PM: SP MLA Slams Resigning Members
Samajwadi Party MLA Sangram Yadav questions the morality of those who won on the party’s symbol with the support of Dalits and backward classes. He says that they betrayed the Dalits and backward classes by talking about conscience today, when they resigned from the post of party chief whip during the voting for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
04:20 PM: Himachal LoP Hints At Floor Test
When asked if the State BJP will demand a Floor Test, Himachal Pradesh LoP Jairam Thakur said, “The Budget will be tabled tomorrow. We will debate the Budget tomorrow and then assess the scenario there. But I can tell that the Government has no majority.”
04:10 PM: “Only Loyal To My Voters”, SP Chief Whip After Quitting
Manoj Kumar Pandey, who resigned as Samajwadi Party Chief Whip, says, “The people have elected me multiple times… Being in politics means facing all kinds of accusations. I have been chosen by the people, and they are my only priority.”
04:00 PM: On the question of Cross-voting in Karnataka RS polls, state’s Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said, “I don’t know about it. It was a secret ballot vote. This alliance is not working in the state. BJP had around 65 votes and they needed 45 to elect their candidate. They got 48 votes which means that BJP legislators did not vote for JD(S). BJP legislators were reluctant to vote for JD(S), so they got 48 votes out of 45.”
03:45 PM: Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, “…We had the Whip in place, but they lacked the numbers. We had no choice but to go for the voting. BJP resorted to intimidation tactics against our leaders, which we denounce in the strongest terms.”
He also said, “During the cut-motion, the opposition leader Jairam Thakur raised the issue. Jagat Negi put forward our stance when dialogue failed, but BJP’s conduct was reprehensible, leading to chaos and House adjournment.”
03:30 PM: The rebel MLAs of SP who voted for the NDA candidate 1- Rakesh Pandey (voted for NDA) 2- Rakesh Pratap Singh (voted for NDA) 3- Abhay Singh (voted for NDA) 4- Vinod Chaturvedi (voted for NDA) 5- Manoj Pandey (voted for NDA) 6- Maharaji Devi (absent) 7- Pooja Pal (voted for NDA) 8- Ashutosh Maurya (voted for NDA) Nitish Pandey.
03.13 PM: Three independent MLAs also voted for BJP. According to reports, BSP MLA Uma Shankar Singh voted for the BJP candidate. Manoj Pandey and Rakesh Pandey and Abhay Singh, Rakesh Singh, Pooja Pal, Maharani Devi are some of the SP MLAs cross-voted for BJP
02.20 PM: According to Zee News TV, the affirmative reports of cross-voting have come from both Himachal Pradesh and UP, 7 MLAs from UP, while 8-10 MLAs from Himachal Pradesh’s Congress have allegedly voted for the BJP. Sudhir Sharma, Rajeev Rana, Ravi Thakur, Davinder Kumar (Bhutto), Chaitanya Sharma, Hoshyar Singh, Krishan Lal Thakur and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal are some names who have reportedly voted for the BJP.
01:55 PM: Karnataka JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said, “Congress has been disturbing JD(S) MLAs everyday. Each day they have been saying that more than 12-13 JD(S) are ready to join Congress. To show our strength, we put forward a candidate in this election.”
01.45 PM: On speculation of cross-voting, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Sukhu said, “We have 40 MLAs. If no one is sold, then we will receive 40 out of 40 votes. (Agar koi bika nahi hoga toh humein 40/40 votes aayenge).”
01.36 PM: In response to speculations about cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections by Karnataka BJP leader ST Somashekar, Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao asserts our unity remains unshaken. He added, “For the BJP, it has become a practice to use any method to win.”
01.22 PM: ST Somashekar, BJP MLA Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) said that sometimes such things happen. He added, “The party had given clear direction to vote for BJP-JD(S) candidates.”
01.15 PM: UP’s Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) leader Raja Bhaiya affirmed that 8candidates from BJP will win. “We had made it clear that Jansatta Dal will support BJP candidates,” he added.
01.03 PM: Voting concluded for the Rajya Sabha polls of Himachal Pradesh, a total of 68 MLAs voted.
12.40 PM: Responding to the rumours of cross-voting Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Virbhadra Singh accused the BJP of using money power. “We will see when the results come out and face the situation. We will sail through, we have the majority,” she added. While, Himachal Pradesh minister & Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh said my conscience is clear.
12.33 PM: On rumors of cross-voting in Rajya Sabha elections, BJP Chief in Karnataka Assembly, Doddanagouda G. Patil says, “It is confirmed that ST Somashekar has cross-voted. We are discussing what can be done and what action to be taken.”
12.24 PM: On Himachal Rajya Sabha elections, CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said”…All our MLAs have voted for the elections. I hope they have all voted on the ideology of the party. We can only say anything once the results are declarred. ‘BJP mein antar-aatma naam ki chiz nahi hai, waha toh paisa antar-aatma chalta hai’…”
12.14 PM: A number of cross votings were witnesses in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the ongoing Rajya Sabha polls. While SBSP MLA Jagdish Narayan, part of the BJP-led NDA alliance, voted for the Samajwadi Party, several SP MLAs voted for the BJP candidate. These MLAs include Manoj Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh and Pallavi Patel. In Karnataka, BJP MLA S. T. Somashekhar cross-voted in favour of the Congress.
12.05 PM: Reacting to the cross-voting, Akhilesh Yadav said that the BJP manipulated and lured MLAs by hook and crook method. Yadav alleged that some MLAs were offered various incentives while some were threatened. “Not everybody has the guts to stand against the Government…pressure is put on everybody, is there anyone who doesn’t know that BJP would go to any extent to win. BJP was dishonest during Chandigarh elections also… When it comes to UP, BJP did everything to get votes and those who left, might not have had the guts to stand against the govt. Action will be taken because our party leaders want such people to be kept away from the party,” said Yadav.
12.00 Noon: On Karnataka Rajya Sabha elections, Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad said, “There will be no cross-voting. Congress candidates will get more votes than required. If people from some other party want to vote for us, then we won’t say no to it.”
11.40 AM: Reacting to the BJP-JDS fielding additional candidate, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said, “They (BJP) have also fielded candidate to win the elections, but for the 5th candidate they required 45 votes, do they have 45 votes? How will they win without numbers? Though they know that they don’t have numbers they fielded Kupendra Reddy and they tried to poach our MLAs, that’s why an FIR has been lodged against him. I’m sure all our 3 candidates are going to win.”
Resort Politics In Karnataka
Ruling Congress in Karnataka has relocated its MLAs to a hotel to safeguard them from external pressures. On Monday, the Congress shifted all its MLAs to a hotel, marking the beginning of the state’s trademark resort politics. All parties have issued whips to their MLAs ahead of today’s election. On Monday, Janardhan Reddy, Karnataka MLA and chief of Kalyana Karnataka Pragati Paksha, met CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar after he announced his support for Congress in the Rajya Sabha election. This further solidifies Congress’s winning chances.
While the Congress had a smooth path in securing four of Karnataka’s three seats due to its numerical strength, the BJP-Janata Dal Secular alliance complicated matters by nominating a second candidate. If there were four candidates, each would need 45 votes to win; however, in the case of additional candidates, preference votes would come into play. The Congress with 135 MLAs has the exact number to elect its three candidates, Ajay Maken, Nasir Hussain and G C Chandrashekhar.
The entry of multi-millionaire real estate baron, D Kupendra Reddy, a Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP candidate has turned the elections to the fourth seat into a keen contest. Reddy, who declared Rs 1,200 crore assets in his election affidavit, has been fielded by the JD(S)-BJP combine. Reddy is confident that he will get the votes to win the election. Earlier, the Congress has complained that MLAs are being blackmailed to vote for Kupendra Reddy. A Congress delegation filed a complaint with the Bengaluru Police Commissioner. The BJP has 66 MLAs, which means it can easily get its main candidate, party worker Narayansa Bhandage, elected. Combined with the 19 JD(S) MLAs, the BJP-JDs second candidate Kupendra Reddy will need to get support of three Independents and get at least three Congress MLAs to cross-vote if he wants to win.
Khela In Uttar Pradesh
In Uttar Pradesh, the cross-voting fear has gripped the Samajwadi Party but the leading opposition party has maintained that all is well. According to Zee News TV sources, 8 to 10 of the Samajwadi Party MLAs may vote for the BJP alliance. The ruling BJP and SP had sufficient support to secure the unopposed election of seven and three members to the Rajya Sabha, respectively. However, the BJP escalated the competition by nominating Sanjay Seth, a former SP member and industrialist, as its eighth candidate. To secure an election, a candidate from the state requires approximately 37 first-preference votes.
Ahead of voting, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav hoped that all three candidates of his party will win despite the BJP’s tactics. “BJP will do everything possible for victory. Some of our leaders who want personal gains can go to the BJP,” said Yadav expressing apprehension of the cross-voting.
The SP has put forward Jaya Bachchan, an actor-MP, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan, and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman. This decision has reportedly caused a rift with ally Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel, who expressed disagreement with the choice of Bachchan and Ranjan and stated she would abstain from voting.
Congress’s Whip To MLAs In Himachal
In Himachal Pradesh, the actions taken were not as extreme as in Karnataka. The party has warned its MLAs about the election of its lone Rajya Sabha seat. The focal point of the Congress’ contest in the state is its senior leader, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, pitted against the BJP’s core committee member, Harsh Mahajan. The Congress enjoys a clear majority with 40 MLAs, while the BJP has 25 members. Three MLAs, including two BJP rebels, identify as independents. Sources indicate that the BJP is currently seeking to woo dissatisfied Congress MLAs.
41 MPs Elected Unopposed
Elections were due for 56 Rajya Sabha seats but since 41 leaders were elected unopposed including former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Ashok Chavan, Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan, the elections are being held for 15 seats in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.