Rajya Sabha polls: Congress loses out in Haryana, Karnataka; mixed results in Maharashtra after Rajasthan win

The counting of votes in both Haryana and Maharashtra began only after midnight, as several parties approached the ECI with complaints of violation of rules

Congress on Saturday failed to bag a Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana where it had enough MLAs to get its candidate win, as an independent backed by BJP and its allies managed to sail through, while its ally Shiv Sena could not get a second candidate pass the barrier in Maharashtra following a spirited challenge by the saffron party.

A sulking Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi refused to vote for Congress’ Ajay Maken in Haryana and another lawmaker’s vote was declared invalid, leading to his defeat while Shiv Sena’s second candidate could not get enough votes, leaving the BJP with an extra third seat.

This came a day after the Congress managed to keep its flocks and allies together to win all the three seats it won in Rajasthan and thwart the BJP attempts to help another independent candidate upset the Grand Old Party’s plans. In Karnataka, the one-upmanship of Congress and JD(S) gave a third seat from the state to the BJP.

Read | BJP wins 3 Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka amid Congress-JD(S) tussle

The counting of votes in both Haryana and Maharashtra began only after midnight, as several parties approached the Election Commission with complaints of violation of rules during the voting process.

Maken, a Congress General Secretary, had enough votes on paper – a candidate needed 31 votes in Haryana and Congress had 31 – but could only manage 29 after Kuldeep Bishnoi voted in favour of independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, a media baron. A Congress MLA’s vote was rendered invalid, leaving Maken with just 29 votes.

BJP's Krishan Lal Panwar emerged victorious bagging 36 votes while Sharma got 23 first preference votes to which 6.6 votes second preference votes from the BJP, taking his total to 29.6. Maken lost the election as he could not secure any second preference votes while Sharma was declared the second winner.

Bishnoi was sulking after the Congress central leadership did not heed to his demand for a larger role in state leadership. He had earlier declared that he would listen to his inner voice and decide on whom to vote. *Congress removed him from all party positions, including that of Special Invitee to the Congress Working Committee.*

In Maharashtra, there was an intense fight for the sixth seat between Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar and BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik in which the latter emerged victorious. Earlier, BJP’s Piyush Goyal (48 votes) and Anil Bonde (48), Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut (41), Congress’ Imran Pratapgarhi (44) and NCP’s Praful Patel (43) were declared winners. Mahadik was declared winner after counting the second preference votes.

On Friday, Congress won three seats in Rajasthan and one in Karnataka while the BJP’s tally was one and three respectively.

An analysis of the 57 seats that went to polls in 15 states, the BJP has bagged 22, two more than what it could have won as per its strength in Assemblies. There is a net loss of three seats for the BJP, as it was holding 25 of the total seats that went to polls. Winning eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, where it had five, and the extra seats from Karnataka and Maharashtra helped in its tally.

Congress had won nine seats as against eight sitting seats but its defeat in Haryana has taken the sheen out of its better performance.

Other gainers included RJD (two seats in Bihar as against one) and YSR Congress (four against one). On paper, Samajwadi Party looked a loser but it gave up two seats – one to RLD’s Jayant Singh and one to Kapil Sibal, who was contesting as an independent candidate. Otherwise, SP could have votes to ensure the victory of two other candidates.

Among the losers are BSP (no winners as against two sitting seats) and Akali Dal (none against one).