Results from Gujarat is yet to come in. (Express photo)
Rajya Sabha Elections 2020 Live Updates: The ruling YSR Congress bagged all the four Rajya Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and seasoned campaigners like Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Shibu Soren had an easy sailing as the results of the polls to the upper house were on expected lines barring Gujarat and Mizoram.
The BJP so far has two seats in Madhya Pradesh, one in Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Manipur each while the Congress bagged two seats in Rajasthan and one in Madhya Pradesh.
The ruling Congress in Rajasthan won two out of the three seats which went to polls. While K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi were declared elected, BJP’s Rajendra Gehlot won comfortably while its second candidate Onkar Singh Lakhawat was defeated. With this, the number of Congress’s Rajya Sabha MPs from Rajasthan has increased to 3, out of total 10, and rest 7 seats are held by the BJP.
Counting of votes for four seats in Gujarat began after a delay of four-hours as the Congress demanded that the Election Commission invalidate two BJP votes on different grounds.
Voting was held for 19 seats spread across eight states amid all precautionary measures in view of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to two legislators in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan who were in quarantine turning up in PPE gear. The polls were originally scheduled to be held on March 26.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan with Union Ministers Prakash Javdekar, Narendra Singh Tomar, BSP MLA Ram Bai, Independent MLA Surendra Singh Shera during a meeting, ahead of Rajya Sabha election, at BJP state headquarters in Bhopal, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. (PTI Photo)(PTI17-06-2020_000270B)
AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party's win was a birthday gift for Rahul Gandhi.
After four-hours of delay, the Election commision granted permission for the counting of votes to Gujarat Rajya Sabha seats. The EC rejected Congress objections.
BJP wins Manipur's lone Rajya Sabha seat with 28 votes of 52 cast.BJP candidate Leisemba Sanajaoba defeated Congress candidate T Mangibabu.
Meghalaya's lone Rajya Sabha seat was bagged by Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) candidate Dr WR Kharlukhi defeating Congress candidate Kennedy Khyriem.
JMM supremo Shibu Soren and BJP state unit president Deepak Prakash on Friday 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.
In Madhya Pradesh, BJP's Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki and Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh have been elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to twitter to congratulate Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi for winning Rajya Sabha seats.
YSRCP wins all four Rajya Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh. 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.
The BJP on Friday 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."He has returned from abroad and supposed to be under quarantine but he violated this and reached the assembly," BJP MLA Ramlal Sharma told reporters.
Meanwhile, 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. "As long as our grievances about voting are not dealt with, counting will not start. We submitted our objections to the EC representative here after voting ended," said Dhanani.
Counting for RajyaSabha polls yet to begin in #Gujarat. The process to begin after ECI examines RO's report which will also contain objections raises by Congress about two votes cast today. @IndianExpress— Avinash Nair (@Avinashgnair) June 19, 2020
Results for Rajya Sabha seats are coming in:
*In Madhya Pradesh, BJP won 2 seats while Congress has won 1 seat.
*In Rajasthan, Congress bagged 2 seats while BJP has 1
Congress MLA Wajib Ali voted for Rajya Sabha elections wearing a PPE kit as he arrived from Australia on Thursday.
Barring two of the opposition TDP, all other 173 MLAs of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly cast their votes on Friday to elect four members from the state to the Rajya Sabha in the biennial election. Telugu Desam Legislature Party deputy leader K Atchannaidu could not cast his vote as he's undergoing treatment in hospital under judicial remand following his arrest last week in the ESI scam, Legislature sources said. Another TDP member Anagani Satya Prasad did not come citing "home quarantine" while three of its rebel MLAs exercised their franchise towards the flag end of the polling process, which ended at 4 pm. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was the first to vote when polling began at 9 am. From the TDP side, actor-legislator Nandamuri Balakrishna voted first. For the four vacant seats, the ruling YSR Congress fielded as many candidates as it could comfortably win, given its strength of 152 in the 175175-member House. The TDP, however, forced the election by fielding its candidate, though it is left with only 20 MLAs.
Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel on Friday expressed confidence in all three BJP candidates in Gujarat.
The ruling Congress in Rajasthan on Friday expressed confidence that the party will win the Rajya Sabha polls. Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot claimed that efforts were made to "create confusion" and spread rumour, but the candidates nominated by the AICC are going to win. "Both of our party candidates are going to win and I want to wish them in advance for their victory," he said. The polling for three Rajya Sabha seats in the state started at 9 am and got over at 4 pm. The counting of votes will begin at 5 pm. The Congress has nominated K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi for the polls, while the BJP has fielded Rajendra Gehlot and Onkar Singh Lakhawat.