Rajya Sabha Election 2024 Highlights: The crucial elections for 15 Rajya Sabha seats took place on Tuesday with 41 out of 56 candidates already being declared victorious unopposed in the Upper House due to lack of opposition. 15 seats in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh saw a fierce contest.
There were 10 Upper House vacancies from UP, of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won eight seats and the Samajwadi Party (SP) won two. At least seven SP MLAs cross-voted in favour of the BJP in UP.
In Karnataka, there were four Rajya Sabha seats and five candidates in the fray. The Congress won on three seats and the BJP emerged victorious on one. Meanwhile, in an unfortunate turn of events in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress got defeated despite having the majority numbers on one Rajya Sabha seat which was up for grabs as nine of its members cross-voted resulting in BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan’s victory.
Rajya Sabha Elections 2024: Witness the battle between BJP, Congress and SP in this crucial election. Follow Financial Express for all the latest polling and results updates.
Seven Samajwadi Party (SP) have reportedly cross-voted in favour of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, SP's Jaya Bachchan got the maximum votes.
BJP has won eight Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Samajwadi Party (SP) emerged victorious on two seats.
Congress candidate from Himachal Pradesh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi after getting defeated by the BJP candidate, said, "First of all, I extend heartiest congratulations to Harsh Mahajan (BJP candidate), he has won. He deserves my congratulations. I would like to tell his party - introspect and think. When a 25-member party fields a candidate against a 43-member party, there is just one message -- we will shamelessly do that which is not permitted by the law..."
As Congress won on three seats, Karnataka Deputy CM and Congress leader DK Shivakumar said, “I am very happy to inform you that all the Congress candidates qualified the required quota of 4500 votes in the first round itself and have won. I would like to thank all my voters and legislators. I would also like to thank Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for giving tickets to three Congressmen of the state.”
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu alleged that leaders of the opposition threatening the counting officials in the state.
Sukhu further alleged that a convoy of CRPF and Haryana police took away five to six Congress MLAs.
"And I can say with conviction that legislators who had gone, their families are trying to contact them and they should definitely contact their families. There is nothing to worry," he said.
Congress candidates Ajay Maken, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrashekhar have won in Karnataka with 47, 46 and 46 votes respectively.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Narayana Bandage has won while BJP-JD(S) candidate Kupendra Reddy has trailed.
Voting for four seats from the state for the Upper House of Parliament took place on Tuesday.
Ajay Maken, Nasir Hussain and GC Chandrashekhar have won from Karnataka
The newly-formed alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) suffered a setback as one BJP legislator cross-voted in favour of the Congress candidate while another MLA abstained from voting in the Rajya Sabha elections held on Tuesday. The development could deal a blow to JD(S) candidate and real estate businessman D Kupendra Reddy’s hopes of securing a berth in the Upper House. (Read More)
Amid concerns of potential cross-voting by another BJP MLA and former minister Shivaram Hebbar, the BJP has affixed a copy of the party whip instructing him to support coalition candidates on the door of his room at Legislators Home, Vidhana Soudha.
As the counting began for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said, "All eight candidates of the BJP are winning. Let's wait for the results."
The counting of votes for 15 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka is underway.
"This alliance can't go well, because even the BJP had 65-66 votes, they could have got their candidate elected with 45 votes, but they have taken 48 votes. This means that even BJP legislators are not interested to vote for JD(S)," Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said.
On reports of cross-voting during Rajya Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav tore into the BJP and said, "The BJP has crossed all the limits of democratic values."
"There were no interruptions during the process, and the voting was conducted as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India. Till now, over 395 votes have been cast. The voting will continue till 4 pm," UP Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana said.
The voting for the Rajya Sabha elections is underway. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has fielded eight candidates and the Samajwadi Party three.
The voting for the Rajya Sabha elections is underway. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has fielded eight candidates and the Samajwadi Party three.
As seven Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs reportedly cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, its chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the party's decision to field a third candidate was a "test" to identify the rebels.
"Our third seat (bid) in the Rajya Sabha was actually a test to identify the true companions and to know who was with the PDA at heart and who was against the backward classes, Dalits and minorities by conscience," Akhilesh Yadav wrote in Hindi on X.
https://twitter.com/yadavakhilesh/status/1762386676712939863
"Now everything is clear, the third seat is our victory," he added.
When asked if the State BJP will demand a Floor Test, Himachal Pradesh LoP Jairam Thakur says, "Budget will be presented tomorrow. We will discuss the Budget tomorrow and then we will see the situation there. But I can see that the Government has lost the majority."
On Tuesday, until 1 pm, a total of 214 MLAs in Karnataka had cast their votes for the four Rajya Sabha seats, according to Election Commission officials. The Congress held 133 MLAs, excluding the Speaker, while the BJP and JD(S) had 66 and 19 legislators, respectively, in the 223-member House. Additionally, there were four members from other parties. Notably, one Congress MLA had passed away on Sunday. (PTI)
UP minister Dayashankar Singh expressed confidence in the Rajya Sabha elections, stating, "Our candidates will win with more votes than they need. Our candidate Sanjay Seth will get the highest number of votes."
The polling for the Rajya Sabha elections took place today, with the BJP putting forth eight candidates and the Samajwadi Party presenting three
On the resignation of chief whip Manoj Kumar Pandey from the party, the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, Ram Gopal Yadav said, "Our candidates have won; they have received 102 votes. It's completely fine if someone chooses to leave our party."
Harsh Mahajan, BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh said, "BJP made me their candidate, it is my luck. I want to thank PM Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda...as per the statement of Congress right now, it seems they have lost their mind...this is happening because their govt is failed so their MLAs and people are upset with them"
Karnataka independent MLA and mining baron Janardhana Reddy after casting votes said, "I have cast my vote as per my conscience...I have high respect towards Mr Modi."
As five Samajwadi Party MLAs met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after casting their vote for the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday, there was speculation of them having cross-voted in favour of the BJP.
In response to this development, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav said that disciplinary action would be taken against the MLAs if they had cross-voted.
On Rajya Sabha elections, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Sukhu says, "We have 40 MLAs. Agar koi bika nahi hoga toh humein 40/40 votes aayenge..."
Karnataka BJP MLA ST Somashekar has cross-voted in the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections which are being conducted for four seats on Tuesday/
ST Somashekar voted in the favour of the Congress party.
BJP Chief Whip in Karnataka Assembly, Doddanagouda G. Patil while speaking about the matter, said that the party will look into the matter and strict action will be taken against the BJP MLA.
"It is confirmed that ST Somashekar has cross-voted. We are discussing what can be done and what action to be taken," he said.
When asked how cross-voting in Rajya Sabha elections will impact his party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said, "This will have no effect, and the Samajwadi Party will only emerge stronger from here."
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah cast his vote on Tuesday after and said, "They (BJP) have also fielded a candidate to win the elections, but for the 5th candidate they required 45 votes, do they have 45 votes? How will they win without numbers? Though they know that they don't have numbers they fielded Kupendra Reddy and they tried to poach our MLAs, that's why an FIR has been lodged against him. I'm sure all our 3 candidates are going to win."