RS polls: Congress wins 3 seats in Karnataka, BJP 1
The Congress on Tuesday secured three Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched one. The Congress's Ajay Maken, Dr. Syed Naseer Hussain, and GC Chandrashekhar won with 47, 46, and 46 votes, respectively. The election in Karnataka saw instances of cross-voting as BJP MLA ST Somashekar cast his vote for Congress's Maken, while A Shivaram Hebbar abstained. Vote counting is currently in progress in Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Why does this story matter?
Polling for 15 Rajya Sabha seats took place in three states—Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh—on Tuesday, amid concerns over cross-voting. Elections were slated to be held for 56 seats, however, 41 members have already been elected unopposed to the Upper House. These members include former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan, and Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
All 8 BJP candidates poised to win
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had nominated eight candidates, while the opposition SP put forward three names for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats. Both parties had enough members to secure seven and three seats respectively. However, the BJP's decision to field an eighth candidate led to a face-off on one seat. Reports suggest that all eight BJP candidates are likely to win. A total of 395 MLAs have cast their votes. Seven SP MLAs have cross-voted in the BJP's favor.
BJP forced contest on single seat
In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP had forced a contest for the state's single seat by nominating Harsh Mahajan to go up against Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Despite the Congress having 40 MLAs compared to the BJP's 25, the election is being viewed as a matter of prestige for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The Congress had issued a whip to all its MLAs to vote for the party candidate.
BJP wins 20 of 41 Rajya Sabha seats
The term of office for 50 Rajya Sabha members from 13 states is set to conclude on April 2, while the remaining six members from two states are due to retire on April 3. Of the 41 "decided seats," the BJP has won the highest number of 20 seats. The Congress is at the second place with six seats, followed by the Trinamool Congress with four seats.
How are Rajya Sabha MPs elected
Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by MLAs using the proportional representation process with the single transferable vote (STV) system. MLAs must rank candidates in order of preference. The candidate with the most first-choice votes is elected. If no candidate receives enough first-choice votes, the votes are transferred to the next preferred candidate on the list.