Rajya Sabha election: Voting puts an end to 12-day-old political ‘drama’ in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: The voting for three seats in Rajya Sabha in Rajasthan concluded on Friday with 198 MLAs voted out of 200 seats in the assembly has put an end to the political drama lasted from the last 12 days.
It was not difficult even for the commoner to predict the fate of four candidates—Congress national general secretary K C Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi and BJP’s two candidates—Rajendra Gehlot and Onkar Singh Lakhawat from the day their candidature was announced by their respective parties.
Two MLAs—Girdhari Lal Mahiya of CPI (M) and cabinet minister Bhanwar Lal Meghwal—didn’t turn up due to their ill-health. The only major controversy erupted from the ground zero involving the Congress MLA from Nagar Wajib Ali who had returned from Australia last night. BJP accused him of flouted the COVID 19 protocol but couldn’t stop him casting his vote. The MLA in a PPE kit voted 30 minutes before the polling ended.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot was among the first leader to cast his vote at 9:20 am at the assembly. Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje received warm greetings from both the Congress and BJP MLAs. The time when she entered the Vidhan Sabha, a queue of Congress lawmakers collecting markers showed respect by greeting her altogether and allowed her to collect the markers before them.
During the three to four hours of the tense day, chief whip Mahesh Joshi and deputy leader of the opposition Rajendra Singh Rathore were holding the fort at the Vidhan Sabha. Joshi was seen holding papers coordinating with each and every MLA coming in different buses and reminding them of their vote in order of preference. While Rathore keeping a watch on each and every activity inside the assembly, receiving senior party lawmakers and keeping a check on the votes polled by his party MLAs.
The MLAs of both the parties left their respective hotels in a phased manner to avoid large gathering also to coordinate in a better manner. The contingent of 124 Congress MLAs was brought from the hotel in six buses while the 75 BJP including three from its ally RLP ferried in five buses in different phases.
State Congress president and deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot has congratulated candidates in advance after casting his vote and called out on forces who tried to derail the democratic process. “Our party candidates will get the votes more than our party strength. Our candidates who were picked by the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi will win and will show to those who made all efforts to create a political stir in the state,” said Pilot.
The election commission of India has enforced different standard operating procedures for the polling. It includes separate waiting areas for the two major parties – the BJP and Congress. The former was allotted Na Paksh lobby while the latter was given Ha Paksh lobby for waiting. A paramedic team was kept at the entry of the state assembly building who were providing hand gloves and face mask to every voter while sanitizing their hands and checking their temperature thermally.