Big win for NDA in Rajya Sabha elections, captures all five seats in Bihar and 3 seats in Odisha.

Today voting took place for 11 Rajya Sabha seats in the country. These seats are from Haryana, Bihar and Odisha. Counting of votes started after polling ended at 5 pm. NDA candidates have won all 5 seats in Bihar. In Odisha, BJP got 3 seats (including one independent), while BJD got 1 seat. Counting in Haryana is stalled due to dispute but NDA is expected to gain.

These elections are important because the tenure of many Rajya Sabha members is ending in April. Out of the total 37 seats, 26 candidates had already been elected without competition. Voting was held on the remaining 11 seats today. These elections may help NDA to increase its strength in the Upper House. NDA already has a majority of about 130 seats.

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Clean sweep of NDA in Bihar

NDA registered complete victory on 5 Rajya Sabha seats of Bihar. The winning candidates are Nitish Kumar (JDU), Ramnath Thakur (JDU), Nitin Naveen (BJP), Upendra Kushwaha (Rashtriya Lok Morcha) and Shivesh Kumar (BJP). All these candidates have reached Rajya Sabha after winning.

The grand alliance (RJD, Congress etc.) has suffered a major setback. The special thing is that 4 MLAs of the Grand Alliance did not vote at all. RJD’s Faisal Rehman, Congress’s Manohar Prasad, Surendra Kushwaha and Manoj Biswas abstained from voting. This weakened the position of the Grand Alliance.

BSP’s lone MLA Satish Yadav voted in favor of the Grand Alliance. He said that many offers came from NDA also but he supported the Grand Alliance. Satish claimed that the Grand Alliance could have won the fifth seat but this did not happen due to the absence of 4 MLAs.

Uproar in Odisha, allegations of cross voting

There was a lot of uproar during voting on 4 seats in Odisha. A scuffle broke out between BJP and BJD MLAs at the polling booth. The situation was brought under control somehow. In the results BJP got 2 seats. Senior BJP leader and Odisha chief Manmohan Samal and sitting MP Sujit Kumar won. Independent candidate and former Union Minister Dilip Ray, supported by BJP, also won. Here many BJD and Congress MLAs did cross voting, which benefited Dilip Ray.

BJD’s Santrupta Mishra retained the party’s representation by winning one seat. Former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik accused BJP of ‘horse trading’. He said that BJP gathered many people with criminal history and got them votes.

Controversy in Haryana, counting stopped

Voting took place on 2 seats of Haryana. Here the counting has been stopped due to dispute. There were objections to the votes of Paramveer Singh, Bharat Beniwal and Anil Vij. BJP objected to two votes of Congress MLAs on the grounds that confidentiality was breached. Congress raised questions on the vote of BJP’s Anil Vij.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to the Election Commission. Alleging rigging, he demanded immediate intervention. He said that the rigging happening in Haryana should be stopped. Congress also demanded a meeting. The decision of the Election Commission is awaited. Only after that the counting will proceed.

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These elections are likely to strengthen the NDA in the Rajya Sabha. The party benefited from a clean sweep in Bihar and 3 seats in Odisha. The result of Haryana is also expected to be in favor of NDA.