Gujarat Rajya Sabha election: The candidates are Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput from the BJP and Ahmed Patel from the Congress
For the first time in over two decades, there’s a contest for the Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat. This time, three Rajya Sabha seats are on offer. Since the BJP has 120 MLAs in the 182-member Assembly, it can easily win two of the three seats hands-down without a contest. The Congress, down from 57 legislators to 51 after six of its MLAs resigned from the party and the Assembly, is fighting to win the third seat. A candidate needs 45 votes to win.
Now, for the candidates. The BJP has nominated its party president Amit Shah and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani, both of whom are expected to win without a contest. For the third seat, it has pitched former Congress leader and chief whip Balwantsinh Rajput. The Congress, on its part, is seeking to get Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, elected for the fifth time from the state into the Upper House.
Gujarat Rajya Sabha polls live updates
2:45 pm: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had reached Parliament early morning to cast his vote. Speaking to the voters, he had said he has voted for the whip issued by the party.
While casting my vote for Rajya Sabha election. pic.twitter.com/cDkMh7E3Lw
— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) August 8, 2017
2:40 pm: I have voted in the interest of Patidar community: Dhari MLA Nalin Kotadiya after voting for Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections.
2:30 pm: BJP President Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani outside Gujarat Assembly House.
BJP President Amit Shah. Express Photo by Javed Raja
Union Minister Smriti Irani. Express Photo by Javed Raja
2:25 pm: Speaking to news reporters, Congress Gujarat chief Ashok Gehlot said that the victory is certain for Ahmed Patel.
2:15 pm: State election officer tells ANI that 176 MLAs have cast their votes in the RS elections.
2:00 pm: Voting for Gujarat Rajya Sabha election has ended. The counting of votes will start at 5 pm.
1:52 pm: Speaking to reporters, Ahmed Patel said that one Congress leader cross-voting will not affect the outcome of the result and he will secure a victory. He added that he had spoken to JD(U) leaders who confirmed that they voted for him. He also said that of three Lok Sabha and five Rajya Sabha elections he has fought till now, this has been the toughest one.
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel outside Gujarat Assembly. Express Photo by Javed Raja
1:50 pm: In a straw poll that we posted earlier in the live blog, we received over 2000 votes. Over 70 per cent voters believed that Ahmed Patel will not be re-elected in the state after the polls. Around 22 per cent people believe that he will get re-elected, while around 6 per cent people are still undecided.
1:30 pm: ANI is reporting that the MLAs are now having lunch at Uma Bhavan after they collectively went in to vote at the state Assembly.
1:15 pm: Congress MLA Dharshi Khanpura had to vote himself after his request for a proxy vote was rejected. He was saying that he could not write.
1:00 pm: So, Congress sources have told the Indian Express that Ahmed Patel has got through with 43 Congress votes + 1 NCP +1 JDU = 45 votes. Unless, any MLA from those who stayed in Bengaluru has cross-voted, Patel is safe for the moment. Of course, these are not the actual results. We will know them when they come out, sometime after 4 pm.
12:30 pm: Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel said the party has been working hard ever since the dates of the RS elections were announced. She expressed confidence that the BJP will win all three seats.
12:15 pm: So, 61 BJP MLAs and 43 Congress MLAs have now voted so far in the Rajya Sabha election. We still don’t have any clarity on how things stand.
12 noon: Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia alleged that some of BJP’s MLAs have cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election.
11:55 am: The 44 Congress MLAs, who came in a batch, have voted and have left the Assembly in the same bus they came in. (Express photo by Javed Raja)
44 Gujarat Congress MLAs leaving after casting their votes (Express photo by Javed Raja)
11:40 am: Here’s what the JD(U) MLA told the Indian Express:
Lone JD(U) MLA Chhotu Vasava from Jhagadiya constituency in Bharuch district, home to Ahmed Patel, told The Indian Express, “I voted for the safety of the country. I kept in mind issues like demonetisation, GST along with safety and security of Tribals, Dalits, Muslims and SC/ST people in the country. The middle class and poor faced lot of difficulty post demonetisation as they faced great problems. Even after the GST, the poor, middle-class people are suffering a lot.”
Vasava who has earlier announced that his vote was for Ahmed Patel, said Tuesday, “I think there is a need for the present government to change. I voted for a person, whose party ideology is for Dalit, tribals, Muslims, SC/ST and poor. The farmers are unhappy, they are agitating. The tribals are suffering from sickle cell anaemia and no satisfactory steps are been taken by the government.”
11:35 am: Congress MLA Gayasuddin Sheikh has meanwhile claimed that Patel will win, Satish Jha reports.
11:30 am: We will give you an update on the earlier straw poll that we had put out. We got nearly 1,300 votes on it, out of which more than 950 people think Patel will not get re-elected to Rajya Sabha. That’s nearly 75% who think that. We will wait for more votes to come in.
11:15 am: Meanwhile, PIB reminds us that this day in 1942, Mahatma Gandhi had arrived in Bombay for the historic session of the AICC that launched the Quit India movement.
#Gandhiji arriving on 8th August, 1942 for the historic session of AICC in Bombay (now Mumbai) which launched #QuitIndiaMovement pic.twitter.com/1c4W59DE4Q
— PIB India (@PIB_India) August 8, 2017
11:10 am: Just FYI, the polling for the three Rajya Sabha seats will go on until 4 pm in the evening after which the results are likely to come out.
10:50 am: A senior Congress leader Kunvarji Bavaliya claims Congress MLA from Jasdan, Bhola Gohil voted for the BJP, terms him ‘gaddar‘ (traitor), reports Gopal Kateshiya. He had reportedly kept aside the seat for Gohil in 2012 elections for him to win.
10:45 am: What does Vaghela’s political career look like? Here’s a glimpse:
10:35 am: In a piece for the Sunday Express, Leena Misra writes about Shankarsinh Vaghela, “Back in 1995, when Vaghela broke away from the BJP, his Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) had formed a government with support from the Congress, for which he still thanks Ahmed Patel.
“He is a very liberal man, a saint-like man, loyal to Madam Gandhi,” he says, breaking into a smile and adding, “He also plays billiards. (Like in the game) in politics, he targets the white and the red falls’.””
Today, the same Vaghela, who has spoken in the past of his friendship with Patel, has ditched him.
10:30 am: If everyone votes according to what they say, then we would have a really simple election on our hands. We are now hearing that one NCP MLA travelled with the Congress camp but ultimately voted for the BJP. No confirmation though!
10:25 am: Let’s take a straw poll and see what our readers think of the chances of Ahmed Patel’s re-election? After all, it’s a close, close contest. We will put out the results at the end of the live blog.
10:10 am: Okay, too many things happening at the same time!
The Congress contingent of 44 MLAs who were housed in a resort on the outskirts of Anand have reached the state Assembly for the vote.
Meanwhile, Shankarsinh Vaghela’s son Mahendrasinh has also voted but he declines to reveal how he voted. If he votes his father’s way, then Patel will lose another crucial vote.
Also, Chief Minister and BJP leader Vijay Rupani says he has voted again to the whip issued by the party. He adds that the NCP MLAs will vote for the BJP too. But Jayant Patel of the NCP says he has voted according to the high command ie for Patel.
9:50 am: So who are the five Congress MLAs apart from Raghavji Patel who may not vote for Patel?
CK Raulji (Godhra), Mahendrasinh Vaghela (Bayad), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (Jamnagar north), Bholabhai Gohil (Jasdan) and Amit Chaudhary (Mansa) were not part of the Congress contingent of 44 MLAs who went to Bengaluru.
9:45 am: More MLAs are now coming out of the state Assembly telling reporters how they voted. Not sure if this is violative of the secret ballot.
Dharmendra Jadeja of the Congress says he voted for Rajput of the BJP. ”Congress hadn’t been listening to us for a year,” he told ANI. Another MLA, Raghavji Patel, says he has voted for the BJP candidate too. He says he wants to remain in politics, just not in the Congress. So that’s two down for the Congress. If you include Vaghela, that’s three MLAs voting for the BJP candidate.
9:40 am: 16 votes cast in 40 minutes!
In first 40 minutes about 16 votes cast in #RajyaSabhapolls in #Gujarat; including CM Rupani, NCP MLAs n Shankersinh Vaghela @IndianExpress
— Avinash Nair (@Avinashgnair) August 8, 2017
9:35 am: Vaghela does not vote for Patel
A setback for the Congress as Shankarsinh Vaghela comes out and tells reporters that he did NOT vote for Ahmed Patel. “Jab Congress jeetne waali hai hi nahi, vote bina matlab Congress ko dene ka matlab nahi tha. Humne Ahmed Patel ko vote nahi diya (When Congress was not going to win, what’s the use of voting for the party. I have not voted for Ahmed Patel),” Vaghela said.
So, does this mean that some of the MLAs loyal to Vaghela will vote the same fashion?
9:20 am: So what’s it about Ahmed Patel that the Congress wants him reelected? A brief profile of the leader:
Patel has been an MP from Gujarat seven times – three times to the Lok Sabha and four times to the Rajya Sabha. But he is not just an ordinary MP. He was often called the ‘number 2’ in the Congress during the UPA years after Sonia Gandhi. He is her political secretary and is believed to have played a huge role in the party’s victories in 2004 and 2009. Patel is also hugely influential in his home state and was a force to reckon with when the party ruled the state till 1995. After the BJP came to power in 1995, the Congress has not been able to win back the state. Getting Patel reelected has been a prestige issue for the Congress, not just to add to its numbers in the Rajya Sabha, but to show the BJP its place ahead of the state elections later this year. If Patel wins, it will energize party cadre going into the Assembly election.
9:18 am: Interestingly, the contest is so tight and nerve-wracking that some on Twitter are even comparing it to the epic HBO series Game of Thrones. There’s even a hashtag #GujaratGoT going around.
9:15 am: Vaghela, Amit Shah, Irani, Gujarat CM Rupani, Ahmed Patel are all there at the Assembly.
9:10 am: So, NDTV is reporting that out of the two NCP MLAs, one is likely to vote for the BJP candidate and the other for Congress. It quotes Sharad Pawar saying that he has asked senior party leader Praful Patel to go to Gujarat and ensure that its MLA votes for Patel as the other legislator has turned rebel.
9:05 am: And we are hearing that the voting has begun in the Assembly in Gandhinagar.
8:55 am: A brief backgrounder on the events leading up to the RS polls
It began with the presidential elections when the Congress noticed cross-voting in their ranks when some MLAs, violating party rule, voted for Ram Nath Kovind instead of Meira Kumar. Indications of dissension erupted after the sudden resignation of the party’s top leader Shankarsinh Vaghela, who was the LoP in the state Assembly. Vaghela had complained that he was neglected by the party and the organisation. Soon, we saw at least six MLAs of the party resigning from the Assembly, three of whom joined the BJP including its chief whip Balwantsinh Rajput, one of the richest MLAs in the state. Rajput was in turn nominated by the BJP for the third RS seat. Rajput’s son is married to the granddaughter of Vaghela. So there’s that connection too.
Scared of more defections, the Congress soon packed 44 of its MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru reminiscent of the time when Vaghela, then in the BJP, had got many of the party MLAs packing to Khajurao thus splitting the party in 1996. After almost two weeks, the MLAs returned to Gujarat and housed in a resort on the outskirts of Anand town. We still don’t know how the numbers are going to play out.
We still don’t know how the numbers are going to play out. If the Congress can get all 44 of its MLAs coupled by the votes of the two NCP MLAs, then Patel can cruise through without any trouble. We will have to wait and see how this nail-biting contest turns out.
8:45 am: So how are the numbers stacked? This graphic below will give our readers an idea. A candidate needs 45 MLA votes to win.
8:30 am: Welcome everyone to this live blog where we are going to track all the updates from the decisive cliffhanger Rajya Sabha elections in the state of Gujarat. Stay with us as we bring you all the numbers and how each candidate could end up getting elected to the Upper House!
