Congress wins three Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka

Voting to elect 27 Rajya Sabha members is underway across seven states as the ruling BJP is hoping to increase its numbers in the upper house of Parliament to enable it to push key legislations.

The BJP is also trying its luck by supporting its member Vinod Gotiya as an independent even though it’s short of the votes.

Rebel MLAs who cross-voted are Zameer Ahmed Khan, Chaluvaraya Swamy, Iqbal Ansari, Balakrishna, Ramesh Bandisiddegowda, Gopalaiah, Bheema Nayak and Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, Babu said, admitting the loss much before polls ended.

Chandra defeated INLD and Congress backed-Independent candidate R K Anand after 14 votes allegedly of the Congress were rejected, state Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma told media here.

“The Modi government has used money and muscle power during the Rajya Sabha elections – just as they did to throttle democracy in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh”, party spokesperson R.P.N. Singh said while addressing a press conference here.

Although Sibal got through, the Congress suffered a jolt with Sibal getting only 25 first preference votes despite the 8-member RLD committing four votes each to Congress and SP.

An earlier IANS story had incorrectly stated that Subhash Chandra lost the election. Congress has 26 MLAs and PDF six.

Some Congress politicians privately argued that Hooda was under compulsion to oblige the BJP because of his legal problems.

Karnataka’s ruling Congress predictably managed to win all the four seats it contested in the biennial elections to fill seven seats of the Legislative Council from Legislative assembly held.

Mayawati’s party won two seats, did not transfer its surplus votes to Sibal although it has backed Congress nominees in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Sibal won despite only 25 of the 29 Congress MLAs voting for him. From Jharkhand, saffron party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Mahesh Poddar won.

Senior Advocate and former Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha has also won from Madhya Pradesh.

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu and BJP national vice president Om Prakash Mathur are contesting from Rajasthan. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has fielded Basant Soren, son of party chief Shibu Soren.

BJP has 160 members in the House, followed by 24 of the Congress, four of NPP and three of BSP.