Rajya Sabha polls: BJP stuns Congress in Himachal, SP in UP as many MLAs cross-vote

In all, the BJP won 10 of the 15 Rajya Sabha seats in UP, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh. The Congress managed three and the SP two. The elections were marred by cross-voting, allegations and counter allegations.

#WATCH | Rajya Sabha Elections | BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan wins after the draw of lots, both candidates got 34 each.

Congress candidate from Himachal Pradesh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi says, “…I would also like to thank the nine persons (MLAs) because they have taught me a lot… pic.twitter.com/vFPwBdrBFu

— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2024

Hours after Singhvi’s embarrassing defeat, the Congress high command decided to depute senior leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and D K Shivakumar as observers to Himachal Pradesh. The immediate priority is to get the Finance Bill passed Wednesday. Sources said a section of the MLAs are demanding the removal of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as the Chief Minister and the two leaders will speak to all the MLAs to gauge their mind in the days ahead.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath with winning BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections. (Express)

In the Himachal House of 68, the Congress had 40 MLAs and the backing of three Independents as opposed to the 25 of the BJP.

Despite the big gap, BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan, a former Congress leader who quit the party and joined the BJP in 2022, secured 34 votes, resulting in a tie with Singhvi and getting elected through a draw of lots.

The BJP claimed the ruling party had lost its majority and demanded the resignation of Sukhu.

Within the Congress, there was a crisis with those voting against Singhvi, the “outsider” candidate fielded by the party high command, also said to be unhappy with Sukhu’s style of functioning.

Making matters worse has been the factional feud between camps led by Sukhu and PCC president Pratibha Singh, wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, and son Vikramaditya Singh.

During the day, Singh said several Congress MLAs were unhappy and senior party leader Rajinder Rana, among those who cross-voted, should have been accommodated in the ministry, exposing the deep divisions in the party.

Sources said Sukhu had proposed the name of senior leader Anand Sharma, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, as the candidate but the high command chose to field Singhvi.

Speaking to reporters after Singhvi’s defeat, Sukhu said his government has not lost majority and that majority is tested on the floor of the House. He said the people of the state would never pardon the six Congress MLAs who “sold their iman” (faith).

With a glum Sukhu by his side, Singhvi said the nine MLAs taught him “a lot about human nature” and its “fickleness”. “They have taught us a lot because they supped with us… dinner, drinks and photography until 11 pm last night and two of them had breakfast with us. So we are bad judges of human character. They are obviously better judges of human character,” he said.

He also slammed the BJP, accusing it of following the policy of trying to win the election by hook or crook.

Earlier in the day, Sukhu claimed that a “convoy of CRPF and Haryana Police” had “taken away six of the Congress MLAs”.

Leader of the Opposition Jairam Thakur said the Sukhu government had lost its mandate. “I demand that the Chief Minister resign immediately. This government does not have a majority now,” he said.

On whether his government was confident of passing the Budget Wednesday, Sukhu said, “Budget ka samay jaise paristhiti hogi aapko us time pata lagegi (you will get to know the situation at the time of the Budget).”

There was high drama in Uttar Pradesh as well. Elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats in the state saw at least seven SP MLAs cross-voting and the party’s chief whip Manoj Pandey quitting while polling was still underway.

The SP MLAs who were said to have cross-voted were Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh, Rakesh Pandey, Pooja Pal, Vinod Chaturvedi and Ashuthosh Maurya. An upset SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of “luring” its MLAs and of stopping at nothing.

The BJP managed to get its eight candidates elected while the SP’s two candidates — actor MP Jaya Bachchan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman — won and the third — retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan — lost.

The BJP winners were former Union minister R P N Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant (Bind), party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh, former Agra mayor Naveen Jain and industrialist Sanjay Seth.

Rakesh Pratap Singh, SP MLA from Gauriganj Assembly seat in Amethi, told reporters: “Antaratma ki awaaz pe vote karna hai (I must vote as per my conscience).” To a question about the Ram temple and whether that was a factor, he said: “Ram kan-kan mei hain, Ram man-man mei hain (Lord Ram is everywhere).”

Abhay Singh, SP MLA from Gosaiganj Assembly seat, said he would not reveal whom he had voted for before casting his vote, but also added: “Bhagwan Ram hamare aaradhya hain, hum to unhi ke kul khandan ke hain (Ram is our Lord, we are from his own family).”

In Karnataka, the results were on expected lines. The three candidates fielded by the ruling Congress — AICC treasurer Ajay Maken, G C Chandrasekhar and Syed Naseer Hussain — won and so did BJP’s Narayansa K Bhandage.

Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including JD(S) contestant D Kupendra Reddy. In Karnataka too, the elections were marred by cross-voting. While one of the BJP MLAs, S T Somashekar, voted for Congress’s Maken, the other, A Shivaram Hebbar, abstained.