Polling for the Rajya Sabha Elections, which will have 58 vacancies in April took place on Friday across six states. Voting was being done to fill 25 of 58 Rajya Sabha seats which fell vacant will take place in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and Telangana. The counting of votes took place an hour after the polling was completed in all the six states.
In Uttar Pradesh, eight BJP candidates win Rajya Sabha seats with 39 votes each BJP's Saroj Pandey won the Rajya Sabha election from Chhattisgarh by beating Congress's Lekhram Sahu, reports ANI. The Congress's Dr L Hanumanthaiah, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrasekhar and the BJP's Rajeev Chandrashekar bagged the Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka, reported PTI.
In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress bagged four seats. In Andhra Pradesh, TDP leader CM Ramesh was unanimously elected to the Rajya Sabha while MP Veerendra Kumar, the state president of the Janata Dal (U)'s Sharad Yadav faction, was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Kerala.
Candidates of Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) - B Prakash, J Santosh Kumar and AB Lingaiah Yadav - bagged all three Rajya Sabha seats. Congress candidate and former Union minister P Balram Naik was defeated, reported IANS.
All four TMC candidates - sitting Rajya Sabha member Nadimul Haque and first-time nominees Subhasish Chakraborty, Abir Biswas and Santanu Sen won. Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi won the Rajya Sabha election from West Bengal. He called his victory "humbling and uplifting" and the result of "cooperation between different groups and MLAs."
As per reports, Janata Dal leader MP Veerendra Kumar has been elected to Rajya Sabha from Kerala. Reports by News18 state that he got 89 votes while his opponent D Babu Prasad of the Congress polled 40 votes. Eight legislators of the Kerala Congress (Mani) and lone BJP MLA O Rajagopal boycotted the polling.
The counting of votes is underway. In Kerala, Janata Dal (United-Sharad Yadav) leader MP Veerendra Kumar has won. Meanwhile, in Andhra Pradesh, TDP leader C M Ramesh, has been unanimously elected to Rajya Sabha consecutively.
As per initial reports, a total of 108 votes polled for 3 Rajya Sabha seats in Telangana. Five members of BJP, 2 of TDP and 1 member of CPM abstained from voting. Reports sttae that about 7 Congress MLAs crossvoted to TRS.
SP and BSP demand from Election Commission to declare votes of BJP's Nitin Agrawal and BSP's Anil Singh invalid alleging that they did not show their ballot paper to the polling agent.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) said it has received a complaint from Jharkhand Vikas Morcha for cancellation of vote of Prakash Ram, who cross- voted. The ECI said that the further view will be taken by the Commission after receiving Returning Officer's report.
BJP’s Saroj Pandey wins from Chhattisgarh by beating Congress’ Lekhram Sahu, says ANI. The counting of votes for Rajya Sabha election started at 5 PM. In some areas, counting was halted the Election Commission has not given permission due to some objections in ballot papers.
After the win, Saroj Pandey said that BJP will win in other states as well under the leadership of PM Modi and party president Amit Shah.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission has not given permission to begin the counting of votes for Rajya Sabha election due to some objections in ballot papers. Counting to begin only after EC gives clearance.
Due to the ruckus in Karnataka, the counting of votes for Rajya Sabha seats has been put on hold as the complaint made by JD(S) was forwarded to the Chief Election Commissioner. Officials said that they are waiting for clearance before starting the counting.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha as results start pouring in from Uttar Pradesh, Reports News18. Jaitley is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, where he was elected to the Upper House in April 2012. This time, he was shifted to UP, from where the BJP is assured to win 8 seats.
The voting in six states has ended. The counting of votes for Rajya Sabha seats have begun. JDS' HD Kumaraswamy says two Congress MLAs cross-voted in RS polls, wants Rajya Sabha polls canceled. "Two senior Congress leaders cross-voted in the first ballot paper. Returning officer allowed them to vote again in fresh ballot paper. Illegal voting is going on. I have requested the Election Commission observer to counter-mandate the process," ANI quoted JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy as saying.
All India Congress Committee gives a memorandum to EC requesting it to issue directions to the concerned Returning Officer to cancel vote cast by Jharkhand Vikas Morcha MLA Prakash Ram alleging he intentionally didn't show ballot paper&concealed marked column.
Akhilesh thank him for supporting Samajwadi Party.In Uttar Pradesh, polling is almost over. In the end, Samajwadi Party has transferred 10 votes to BSP, Congress has transferred all 7, RLD's 1 and BSP gets its 17.
Seven union ministers including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, J P Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandavia, were among the unanimously elected candidates on March 15.
Polling stopped for minutes in Karnataka Assembly after a ruckus broke out between JD (S) and polling officer over wrong voting by Congress leaders Kagodu Thimmappa and Baburao Chinchanasur
Polling for four Rajya Sabha seats is currently underway in Karnataka. Five candidates, including three from the ruling Congress and one each from the opposition -- BJP and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are contesting for the four seats.
The Rajya Sabha elections are being held as 58 members will retire next month. Here’s the list of states and the number of seats which will be filled after today’s election: Andhra Pradesh (3), Bihar (6), Chhattisgarh (1), Gujarat (4), Haryana (1), Himachal Pradesh (1), Karnataka (4), Madhya Pradesh (5), Maharashtra (6), Telangana (3), Uttar Pradesh (10), Uttarakhand (1), West Bengal (5), Odisha (3), Rajasthan (3) and Jharkhand (2).
Voting is underway for the Rajya Sabha elections in six states to fill vacant seats. It must be noted that 33 candidates have been elected unopposed. According to News18, the Samajwadi Party candidate for Rajya Sabha, Jaya Bachchan, has declared assets worth Rs 1,000 crore, which could make her the richest candidate in the Upper House.
Rajendra Chaudhary, SP leader, says, "SP candidate Jaya Bachchan Ji and BSP candidate, (Bhim Rao Ambedkar) whom we are supporting, will win the Rajya Sabha elections. Considering BJP's condition I'd say that its own MLAs are annoyed and some of them may even end up siding with the opposition."
About 87% percent of the candidates contesting the Rajya Sabha elections today are crorepatis. It must be noted that JD(U)'s Mahendra Prasad has the highest assets worth Rs 4,078 crore, says a release by election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
New Delhi, March 23: The Rajya Sabha Elections, which will have 58 vacancies in April, has begun across six states on Friday. Voting is being done to fill 25 of 58 Rajya Sabha seats which fell vacant will take place in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and Telangana. Voting begun 9 AM and will end by 4 pm. Counting of ballots will be taken up at 5 pm, an hour after the end of votes.
It must be noted that for the 58 Rajya Sabha seats to be filled, 33 candidates from 10 states have been unanimously elected. The Rajya Sabha vacancies next month include 17 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 12 from the Congress Party. Three nominated members - actress Rekha, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, and social worker Anu Aga -- will retire in April. Seven union ministers that include Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, J P Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandavia, were among the unanimously elected candidates on March 15.
In the Rajya Sabha Elections, a party needs 37 votes to win each seat in UP. The BJP, with over 300 lawmakers, is assured of a victory in eight seats. “BJP will win all the nine Rajya Sabha seats where we have fielded our candidates. Nine more BJP candidates will make entry to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh this time”, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to ANI.
The opposition BJP on Thursday said it would stay away from Rajya Sabha polls to fill three vacancies from Telangana. TDP's Telangana unit said yesterday it would not take part in the Rajya Sabha election. The election would be held to fill three vacancies and four candidates, three belonging to TRS and one Congress nominee, are in the fray.
As per a report by PTI, with the BJP and TDP deciding to stay away from the election, the TRS is expected to wrest the three seats as its ally AIMIM has announced support to the party. In the 119-member Legislative Assembly, the party-wise strength is: TRS-82, INC-19, MIM-7, BJP-5, TDP-3, Independent-1, CPI(M)-1 and CPI-1.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2018 11:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).