BJP wins eight of 19 Rajya Sabha seats, Congress four

BJP won eight of the 19 Rajya Sabha seats, while Congress had to be content with four victories in the elections to the Upper House held in eight states on Friday.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, who recently quit the Congress to join the BJP, made his maiden entry into the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh, while AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal made it to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.

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YSRCP swept the Rajya Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, winning all the four seats comfortably.

BJP won three of the four seats in Gujarat, two of three seats in Madhya Pradesh and one seat each in Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Manipur.

The elections were fought closely in Manipur and Gujarat with Congress alleging irregularities in the voting process and moving the Election Commission which dismissed the complaints and gave the go ahead for the counting process late Friday evening.

BJP’s Leisemba Sanajaoba’s victory in Manipur was significant as the party-led government was on a sticky wicket after its allies and a section of the party MLAs shifted allegiance to the Congress.

Prominent winners of the Congress were Digvijay Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Shaktisinh Gohil (Gujarat) and Neeraj Dangi (Rajasthan). Former Union Minister Bharatsinh Solanki lost the election in Gujarat, where three Congress MLAs had quit the party ahead of the polls and two allies did not turn up to vote.

Besides Leisemba and Scindia, the BJP winners were Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramilaben Bara and Narhari Amin (all Gujarat), Sumer Singh Solanki (Madhya Pradesh), Rajendra Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Deepak Acharya (Jharkhand).

In Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP ensured easy win for its four candidates – Pilli Subhaschandra Bose, M Venkata Ramana, Parimal Nathwani and Ayodhya Rami Reddy to the Rajya Sabha.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha veteran Shibu Soren was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand.

In Meghalaya, National Peoples’ Party candidate Wanweiroy Kharlukhi won the lone seat while Mizo National Front candidate K Kanlalvena emerged victorious from Mizoram.