The BJP consolidated its position as the largest party in the Rajya Sabha as the results of biennial elections to 59 seats in the Upper House have widened the gap between it and the Congress, even though a majority will continue to elude the ruling NDA.
With 33 candidates from 10 states already declared elected unopposed earlier on 15 March, the states where the Rajya Sabha seats were up for grabs were Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
Here is a quick look at Rajya Sabha Election results highlights:
Uttar Pradesh
Nine out of ten Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh were won by the BJP, while one seat was bagged by SP candidate Jaya Bachchan. Cross-voting, second-preference votes, and an invalid vote for the BSP enabled the BJP to clinch its nine seats.
Besides the BJP's prominent winner Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, others who made it to the Upper House of Parliament from the party are Ashok Bajpai, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, Sakal Deep Rajbhar, Kanta Kardam, Anil Jain, Harnath Singh Yadav, GVL Narasimha Rao and ninth candidate Anil Kumar Agarwal, who pulled off a surpise win with the help of second preference votes.
Addressing a press conference after the party’s victory, UP CM Yogi Adityanath congratulated the victors, calling it a ‘massive win’ for the state.
The BSP, meanwhile, has alleged sabotage by the BJP, accusing them of using “money power and state powers” in the voting process.
West Bengal
The Trinamool Congress bagged four seats and the Congress one in the Rajya Sabha polls from West Bengal.
All four Trinamool candidates – sitting Rajya Sabha member Nadimul Haque and first time nominees Subhasish Chakraborty, Abir Biswas and Santanu Sen – emerged victorious in the vote count.
Supported with surplus votes from Trinamool Congress, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also won.
It is humbling and uplifting, it is a result of cooperation between different groups and MLAs.Abhishek Manu Singhvi
CPI-M candidate Rabin Deb, backed by the Left Front, lost.
Chhattisgarh
BJP national general secretary Saroj Pandey won the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Chhattisgarh, defeating Congress rival Lekhram Sahu.
The House currently has 49 BJP MLAs, 39 Congress legislators, one BSP member and an independent legislator.
Pandey seems to have got all 49 votes of her party MLAs and apparently two more votes from BSP and independent legislators, while Sahu secured 36 votes in the election.
Congratulating Pandey on her win, BJP state unit president Dharamlal Kaushik said the party was assured of victory based on its numbers in the House.
"We have got 51 votes, which is two more than our actual strength in the House, while the Congress got 36, three less than its strength. This clearly reflects infighting within the main opposition," he said.
Karnataka
The ruling Congress in Karnataka bagged three Rajya Sabha seats and BJP one in the biennial election, amid a boycott of the poll by the JDS, alleging electoral malpractice.
Congress' Dr L Hanumanthaiah, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrasekhar, as also BJP's Rajeev Chandrashekar were declared elected after a complaint by the JDS to the Election Commission caused delay in taking up counting of votes.
With its strength in the Assembly, the Congress was sure of winning two seats and eyed the third seat and won it with the support of JDS rebels and independents.
Telangana
Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) bagged all three Rajya Sabha seats.
B Prakash, J Santosh Kumar and AB Lingaiah Yadav were elected to the Upper House. Congress candidate and former union minister P Balram Naik was defeated, officials said.
A total of 108 members of the Assembly voted. Prakash secured 33 votes while Santosh Kumar and Yadav polled 32 votes each in the 108 members Assembly. The Congress candidate got only 10 votes as independent member D Prakash Reddy's vote was declared invalid by the Election Commission.
The poll panel took the decision after the complaint by the Returning Officer that Prakash Reddy showed his vote to the Congress agent before casting it.
Jharkhand
The BJP's Sameer Uranv and Congress' Dheeraj Sahu won the two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand, declared the Returning Officer.
Speaking to ANI, Sahu said that the elections were different this time around, as the party had deal with fake allegations and mud-slinging.
I want to thank all the people who prayed for my victory. This election was different from earlier elections. Everyday it was something or the other, and fake allegations were made against us, but in the end we won.
Kerala
M P Veerendra Kumar, the state President of the Janata Dal (U) Sharad Yadav faction, was today elected to the Rajya Sabha from Kerala.
Kumar, who was supported by ruling CPI(M)-led LDF, polled 89 votes, while B Babu Prasad the opposition UDF candidate got 40 votes in the election held to one seat from the state, official sources said.
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