Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and BJP candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia. (File)

BJP candidates Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki, and veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, were voted in to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh on Friday.

Scindia’s entry into the Upper House came nearly three months after he precipitated the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government.

Before Scindia’s rebellion, the then ruling Congress was poised to win two seats. The resignations of 22 Congress MLAs, most of them Scindia loyalists, reduced the party’s numbers to 92, enabling the BJP to not only return to power after 15 months but also increase its tally in the upper house.

The second BJP candidate to get elected on Friday, Solanki, is an RSS activist and former assistant professor.

Digvijaya Singh and Phool Singh Baraiya, the other Congress candidate, got 93 votes, one more than the party’s tally—one BJP member cross-voted. The former Chief Minister got 57 first preference votes while Scindia and Solanki got 56 and 55 votes each. At 111 first preference votes, the BJP said it got four more votes than its tally of 107. One vote was rejected.

Scindia who recently tested positive for the coronavirus, was in Delhi and could not make it to Bhopal. In a video message, he thanked BJP MLAs and its top leadership for facilitating his entry into the Rajya Sabha from his home state. “Because I am Covid-positive I could not be with you,”’ he said, promising to visit Bhopal soon.

Congress MLA Kunal Chaudhary, who tested positive a few days ago, turned up to the Assembly to vote in a personal protective kit.