Congress wins three seats in Karnataka, BJP wins one in Himachal Pradesh

The Congress on Tuesday gained three seats and the Bharatiya Janata Celebration gained a single seat within the ongoing elections to the Rajya Sabha in Karnataka, The Indian Specific reported.

The Rajya Sabha elections for Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh have been held on Tuesday. Voting has ended for ten seats in Uttar Pradesh, 4 seats in Karnataka and one seat in Himachal Pradesh amid reviews of cross-voting.

In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP’s Harish Mahajan defeated Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The Congress gained all of the three seats it had contested for in Karnataka with its candidates Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrasekhar, whereas Narayansa Bhandage gained from the BJP. Kupendra Reddy from the Janata Dal (Secular) misplaced.

In Karnataka, a candidate requires 45 votes within the 224-member Meeting to be elected to the Higher Home of Parliament.

Maken and Hussain secured 47 votes every, whereas Chandrashekar acquired 45 votes. Bhandage secured 47 votes, whereas Reddy obtained 36 votes.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, whereas addressing reporters, mentioned that the celebration’s win reveals the “unity and integrity” of the Congress.

In the meantime, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Celebration MLA ST Somashekar Gowda had cross-voted through the Rajya Sabha polls within the state, celebration chief whip Doddanagouda G Patil informed ANI.

“It’s confirmed that ST Somashekar has cross-voted,” Patil informed ANI.

One other BJP MLA, a former minister Shivaram Hebbar, selected to abstain from voting after apprehension from the celebration that he would vote for the Congress, The Indian Specific reported. The BJP had pasted a replica of the celebration whip directing Hebbar to vote for coalition candidates outdoors his room within the Legislators Residence at Vidhana Soudha.

The BJP has mentioned that it’s going to submit a letter to Karnataka Legislative Meeting Speaker UT Khader looking for Gowda’s and Hebbar’s disqualification from the Meeting, The Hindu reported.

Chief of the Opposition R Ashok additionally mentioned that the BJP’s state unit will report the matter to the celebration’s excessive command, accusing each the MLAs of “dishonest the celebration”.

On Monday, the Congress had shifted all its MLAs to a non-public resort to stop potential cross-voting.

On Tuesday, Karnataka Residence Minister G Parameshwara informed reporters that the celebration is for certain that it’s going to win all of the three seats.

“We suspected cross-vote solely as a result of the BJP and JD(S) have been attempting to achieve our MLAs and contacted them,” he informed reporters. “We now have had a bitter expertise earlier than, in order that’s why we took the precaution of retaining our MLAs collectively.”

In Himachal Pradesh, a candidate wants 35 votes within the 68-member Meeting to be elected.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday alleged {that a} convoy of Central Reserve Police Drive and the Haryana Police had taken away 5 to 6 Congress MLAs, The Indian Specific reported.

Earlier, Sukhu added that leaders from the Opposition had threatened counting officers and stalled the counting of votes. In all, a complete of 9 MLAs reportedly cross-voted in favour of the BJP’s candidate.

“I might additionally wish to thank the 9 individuals [MLAs] as a result of they’ve taught me loads about human nature, its fickleness or its resoluteness,” Singhvi mentioned, conceding defeat.

Senior BJP chief and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur informed reporters on Tuesday night time that the Himachal Pradesh chief minister ought to resign from his place after Congress’ loss within the polls. “ The MLAs have left him [Sukhu] simply inside a yr,” Thakur mentioned.

The Uttar Pradesh Meeting has 403 MLAs however the voting power on Tuesday stands at 399 as 4 seats are vacant. Every candidate requires 37 votes to win.

The BJP has 252 MLAs and its allies within the state account for 34 MLAs. The Samajwadi Celebration has 108 MLAs and its ally Congress has two legislators within the state Meeting.

The BJP has fielded eight candidates: celebration common secretary Amarpal Maurya, former minister Sangeeta Balwant, former Union Minister RPN Singh, spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh, former Agra mayor Naveen Jain, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh and Sanjay Seth.

The Samajwadi Celebration has fielded actor-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan, former state chief secretary Alok Ranjan and Dalit chief Ramji Lal Suman.

On Tuesday, Samajwadi Celebration’s chief whip Manoj Pandey resigned from his publish saying he’ll vote for the BJP, reported India As we speak. On Monday, Pandey and 7 different MLAs had skipped a gathering with celebration chief Akhilesh Yadav to debate the Rajya Sabha polls, inflicting hypothesis that some celebration leaders might cross-vote on Tuesday.

Samajwadi Celebration MLA Zahid Beg accused the BJP of attempting to poach the celebration’s leaders with massive sums of cash, reported India As we speak. “Nevertheless, I’m assured that our leaders will not settle for the cash,” Beg mentioned. “Manoj Kumar Pandey is a senior chief. He’s not somebody who would settle for cash from anybody.”

Responding to the event, celebration chief Akhilesh Yadav mentioned that not everybody has the power to face in opposition to the federal government. “Stress is placed on all people,” he mentioned, in response to ANI. “Is there anybody who doesn’t know that BJP would go to any extent to win?”