Amid high political drama, the Rajya Sabha (RS) polls in Gujarat ended with Ahmed Patel, political advisor to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, retaining his seat from the state.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani also won their RS seats, while Congress turncoat and BJP nominee, Balwantsinh Rajput, lost the race.
Despite cross-voting by at least two members of the legislative assembly (MLAs), Patel bagged the requisite 44 first preference votes, while both Shah and Irani managed to receive 46 votes each. Patel was banking on 44 of its 51 MLAs to support him, with the other seven being seen as supporters of the rebel Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela.
"This is not just my victory. It is a defeat of the most blatant use of money power, muscle power and abuse of state machinery. BJP stands exposed of personal vendetta and political terror. People of Gujarat will give them a befitting reply in this year's election," Patel tweeted on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
सत्यमेव जयते
— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) 8 August 2017
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who was part of a Congress delegation that met the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday seeking the rejection of votes of two Congress rebels, said: "Money, muscle and manipulation could not win in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections."This is not just my victory. It is a defeat of the most blatant use of money power,muscle power and abuse of state machinery
— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) 8 August 2017
Congress, as well as the BJP, took turns to stall counting, resulting in a delay in the declaration of the RS polls result on Tuesday.
Counting for the crucial Gujarat RS polls, which concluded at post-midnight on Wednesday, was delayed after Congress sought the cancellation of the two votes that were cast by party MLAs — Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavjibhai Patel — from the state EC (SEC), thereby, stalling the counting process.
Disqualifying the two votes, the EC ordered for counting late Tuesday night. Later, the BJP tried to stall the counting further while demanding the EC to make the video footage of Gohil and Patel's voting public.
As against an earlier requisite 45 first preference votes, the disqualification of two votes led to Patel requiring only 44 votes, which he managed to gain at the end of the political drama.
Congress had alleged that the two MLAs had violated voting procedure under provisions of Rule 39 of Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, by showing their ballot papers to persons other than the authorised Congress agent while casting their votes.
From a total of 182 MLAs, the Gujarat state assembly was recently reduced to 176 after six Congress MLAs resigned following Vaghela's announcement to quit the party during his birthday celebrations on July 21. BJP has 122 MLAs in the state assembly.
This resulted in Vaghela and Congress MLA Karamsinh Patel, among others engaging in cross-voting to the BJP.
Congress' allegations not only delayed counting, but it also resulted in a high-voltage drama being played out as several heavyweights from both the Congress and the BJP, including P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, took turns to visit the EC in Delhi.
While Congress had pressed for cancellation of the two votes, the BJP had challenged the same by maintaining that the opposition party was late in filing a complaint. Congress had, however, rebutted the same by stating that it had brought the matter to the returning officer's notice on Tuesday morning, but did not elicit any response from the latter.
Video footage of the two MLAs' votes was shown to the EC, following which their votes were disqualified.
Congress party leaders even alleged that the ruling party BJP had been asserting pressure on EC in delaying action against the two MLAs who violated voting procedure. However, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday denied such allegations levelled against the ruling party.
Patel, who has been winning the RS seat from Gujarat for quite some time now, saw a close fight for arguably the first time. Close to the Gandhi family and one of the key figure behind Congress' Lok Sabha poll wins in 2004 and 2009, Patel's retention of an RS seat was crucial not just for the senior party leader but also for its president- Sonia Gandhi.
Polling for the Rajya Sabha elections had begun on Tuesday morning at the Swarnim Sankul, the state Secretariat, in Gandhinagar.
Earlier in a bid to prevent the BJP from "poaching" rest of its legislators, the Congress had flown 44 of its MLAs to Bengaluru and lodged them there for nine days, before bringing them back to Gujarat on Monday. Lodged at a resort in Anand, the MLAs were escorted under heavy police protection to Gandhinagar on Tuesday for the crucial RS voting in Gujarat.