Rajya Sabha Elections 2020: Here's everything you need to know
Elections to fill 19 vacant seats in the Rajya Sabha across eight states, including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, and Meghalaya, were held on Friday. The voting took place from 9:00am to 4:00pm, and the counting of votes began at 5:00pm. The winning candidates from all states, including Gujarat where counting was delayed, have been declared. Here's everything to know.
Polling held for these vacant Rajya Sabha seats
Polling was held for four vacant Rajya Sabha seats each from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat and three each from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Apart from these, two seats from Jharkhand and one seat each from Manipur, Meghalaya, and Mizoram were also up for grabs. The polls were initially supposed to be conducted in March but were deferred due to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak.
Congress won 2 seats from Rajasthan, BJP bagged 1 seat
The Congress has bagged two Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won one seat. Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi were elected from one seat each, and BJP's Rajendra Gehlot was also declared a winner from the state. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot took to Twitter to congratulate both the Congress leaders on their victory.
Here's what CM Gehlot posted on Twitter
CM Gehlot tweeted, "Congratulations to Congress national general secretary KC Venugopal ji and Neeraj Dangi ji for winning Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan. It is a victory of the ideology, policies and programmes of Congress Party under the leadership of CP Smt Sonia Gandhi ji."
BJP won 2 seats from Madhya Pradesh
Meanwhile, from Madhya Pradesh, the BJP emerged victorious in two Rajya Sabha seats, while the Congress won the remaining seat. BJP leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki bagged one seat each from the state in the Upper House. And, from the Congress, senior leader and former CM Digvijaya Singh secured the other seat.
Clean sweep for YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh
On the other hand, in Andhra Pradesh, it was a clean sweep for the ruling YSR Congress Party, which bagged all four Rajya Sabha seats from the state. The party's four candidates who have been elected to the Upper House include Parimal Nathwani, Mopidevi Venkataramana, Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, and Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy.
From Jharkhand, BJP and JMM bagged one seat each
BJP secured one of the two vacant RS seats from Jharkhand, while the other was bagged by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). BJP's state president Deepak Prakash and the JMM founder and former CM Shibu Soren were elected from the state to the Upper House.
BJP secured the lone seat from Manipur
Coming to the North-Eastern states, BJP emerged victorious in Manipur's lone Rajya Sabha seat. At the same time, the Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) won from Mizoram and Meghalaya, respectively. BJP's Leisemba Sanajaoba secured the Manipur seat, while MNF's K Vanlalvena won from Mizoram and MDA's candidate, WR Kharlukhi of the National People's Party, was elected from Meghalaya.
Counting for RS seats from Gujarat delayed
For the four vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, however, the counting of votes was delayed by four hours after the Congress raised some objections, seeking the cancellation of two BJP votes. It demanded the Election Commission to invalidate the votes cast by BJP MLAs, Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Kesrisinh Solanki, on different grounds. But the poll body had rejected the party's objections.
Later, BJP won 3 of 4 seats from Gujarat
Nearly two hours after the counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat commenced, the BJP emerged victorious in three out of four seats, while the Congress party won the remaining seat. The BJP candidates elected to the Upper House were Narhari Amin, Abhay Bhardwaj, and Ramila Bara. Meanwhile, Shaktisinh Gohil of the Congress party secured the other seat.
