Rajya Sabha election results: BJP wins 2 seats from MP, Congress gets 2 from Rajasthan

NEW DELHI: In the Rajya Sabha elections held on Friday, the BJP won two seats in Madhya Pradesh while the Congress got one. In Rajasthan, the Congress won two seats in Rajya Sabha elections, while the BJP got one seat.
Voting for the elections to fill the vacant 18 seats spread across 8 states in Rajya Sabha was held today, with the contest being a close affair between the BJP and Congress in some states.
Given the changing political equations in Manipur, where the BJP-led government is on a sticky wicket after nine members of the ruling coalition resigned, the polling process for the only Rajya Sabha seat was undertaken in the midst of tight security.
Here are the top developments on the polls:
W R Kharlukhi wins Rajya Sabha seat in Meghalaya
Ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance candidate Wanwei Roy Kharlukhi won the Rajya Sabha seat in the state on Friday, an Election Commission official said.
The election was held during the day and Kharlukhi, who is the state president of the National People's Party, defeated Congress' Kennedy Cornelius Khyriem by a margin of 20 votes, they said.
"MDA candidate W R Kharlukhi secured 39 votes while his opponent Kenndy Khyriem secured 19 votes. One vote was declared invalid and one abstained from voting," the official said.
In the house of 60, the MDA has the support of 41 MLAs and the Congress has 19 MLAs.
Shibu Soren, Deepak Prakash win Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand
JMM supremo Shibu Soren and BJP state unit president Deepak Prakash won the two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, an election commission official said.
Prakash secured 31 votes, while Soren, a former chief minister, won 30.
Congress candidate Shahzada Anwar finished third by bagging 18 votes, the official said.
This will be Soren's third term as a Rajya Sabha member. Soren, whose Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) now governs Jharkhand, had also served as a Union minister. It will be Prakash's maiden term in the Upper House of Parliament.
Polling in the two seats was held during the day as the tenure of Independent member Parimal Nathwani and RJD's Prem Chand Gupta ended in April.
Counting in Gujarat delayed due to Cong's objections
Counting of votes for four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat was delayed on Friday as the Congress demanded that the Election Commission invalidate two BJP votes on different grounds.
Lader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani said the Congress has sought cancellation of votes cast by BJP MLA Kesrisinh Solanki and minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.
A senior official, however, said that the EC observer rejected the opposition party's objections and referred the matter to EC's Delhi office for final decision.
The Congress objected to Chudasama casting his vote on the ground that his election was annulled by Gujarat High Court last month. The Supreme Court has stayed that order.
Ruling YSRC bags all four RS seats in AP
The ruling YSR Congress bagged all the four Rajya Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh in the biennial election held on Friday as expected.
According to Legislature sources, deputy chief minister Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, industrialist Parimal Nathwani and realtor Ayodhya Rami Reddy of the YSRC were elected with 38 votes each.
The opposition Telugu Desam Party, which had forced the contest despite not having the numbers, lost badly, with its nominee Varla Ramaiah polling only 17 votes against its technical strength of 23 in the assembly.
Congress' Digvijaya, BJP's Scindia and Solanki win RS polls
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and BJP candidates Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki on Friday won Rajya Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh, an official said.
The Congress' other candidate, dalit leader Phool Singh Barriya, lost the election.
Digvijaya Singh bagged 57 votes, Scindia 56 and Solanki 55, the poll official said. Barriya got 36 votes in the biennial election to three vacant seats from Madhya Pradesh.
Cong wins 2 Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan, BJP 1
The ruling Congress in Rajasthan won two RajyaSabha seats, while the opposition BJP got one in elections held in the state on Friday.
K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi of the Congress were declared winner, while Rajendra Gehlot of the BJP also got elected, an assembly spokesperson said.
The BJP had fielded a second candidate as well, Onkar Singh Lakhawat, but he lost.
With this, the number of Congress party's RajyaSabha MPs from Rajasthan has increased to three, out of a total of 10. The rest seven are BJP members.
BJP raises objection over Cong MLA casting vote
The BJP raised objection over Congress MLA Wajib Ali, who has recently returned from abroad, casting his vote in the Rajya Sabha polls, alleging that he violated the quarantine norms.
The Nagar MLA wore a PPE suit before casting vote in the assembly building.
Ali is among six legislators who won the 2018 assembly elections on BSP ticket and later defected to the Congress.
BJP MLA skips voting for RS seat in Mizoram
The lone BJP MLA in Mizoram did not vote in the elections for the single Rajya Sabha seat in which NDA ally MNF is locked in a triangular fight, prompting chief minister Zoramthanga to say that ties are issue-based and his party has the right to say "yes or no" on emerging matters.
Buddha Dhan Chakma abstained from voting because the saffron party did not have a candidate, according to state BJP president Vanlalhmuaka.
Though an ally of the NDA at the Centre, the ruling Mizoram National Front (MNF) does not work with the BJP in Mizoram.
Mishra accuses Congress of betraying dalit leader
Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra accused the Congress of betraying the party's dalit leader, Phool Singh Baraiya, by placing him as the second preference nominee in the Rajya Sabha polls held in the state.
Voting for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats in MP were held in the state assembly complex earlier in the day.
While the BJP had fielded senior leader and former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and former professor of a government college Sumer Singh Solanki, the Congress had fielded party veteran Digvijaya Singh and dalit leader Phool Singh Baraiya.
"The Congress has betrayed the dalit leader. Why did the Congress field him as its second nominee when it did not have the number on their side to make him win?" Mishra said.
170 MLAs cast vote in Gujarat
Of the 172 MLAs eligible to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat, 170 legislators cast their votes, while two others from the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) stayed away from the process after they demanded a written assurance about the welfare of tribals, migrants and dalits.
While the BJP had fielded three candidates, two candidates were in the fray from the Congress.
Rajya Sabha election for four seats in Gujarat became necessary as the BJP decided to field a third candidate, taking the number of candidates in the fray to five.
While the Congress had fielded Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki, the BJP had fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramilaben Bara and Narhari Amin.
(With agency inputs)