Rajya Sabha elections: Will sail through with cross-voting, says Subhash Chandra

He said that he spoke to some Congress MLAs on phones but also sent an SMS and a WhatsApp text to all Congress MLAs.

Thanking Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and its three MLAs for openly announcing support to him, he said that other than them, he has additional 8-9 votes: With BJP’s 30 and RLP’s 3, Chandra already has 33 votes and needs 41 votes to be elected, hence the claim for additional 8-9 votes.

He said that having studied news clippings, he believes that eight MLAs will cross vote. “Not because they love Subhash Chandra, but because of the treatment meted out to them at the hands of this government,” he said.

He said that four MLAs who have extended him support have asked him not to reveal their names.

Additionally, there are two MLAs who have also said that they won’t support either Congress or the BJP.

“So I believe that (I have) the support of two more MLAs. Unless they don’t even turn up to vote,” Chandra said. Thus, the additional votes add up to about 9 additional MLAs apart from 33 of BJP and the RLP. Chandra said that he has ‘full faith’ that he will win.

Responding to Chandra’s claims, Congress leader Sachin Pilot said, “Some advice to the ‘independent’ candidate from Rajasthan — best to bow out of the contest before the voting on the 10th. It’s better to lean towards humility rather than humiliation. Unfortunately, politics is not like making TV series where you pick and choose who does what!! (sic)”