Even the winning MLA could not save the opposition! How did you get a crushing defeat in the Rajya Sabha elections?

Elections for 37 Rajya Sabha seats were concluded on Monday in 10 states of the country. 10 states included in the elections were West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Haryana and Telangana. Out of these, 26 candidates were elected unopposed. At the same time, voting was required for 11 seats in Bihar, Odisha and Haryana. Voting seats include 5 seats in Bihar, 4 seats in Odisha and 2 seats in Haryana.

The way the opposition India Alliance had defeated the BJP-led NDA in the last Lok Sabha elections, that victory was missing from this election. The opposition, especially MLAs from Congress, RJD and BJD, broke down and supported BJP candidates to win the elections. In a way, this is being seen as a big blow for the opposition, in which even after losing the assembly elections in states like Bihar and Odisha, the opposition MLAs who had won, supported the BJP.

BJP flag hoisted in Bihar

The most dramatic developments in this election were seen in Bihar and Odisha. From here, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BJP National President Nitin Naveen were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha. From here, NDA made a clean sweep in the elections by winning all five seats of Bihar and wiped out the opposition. Apart from these two, Union Minister Ramnath Thakur of JD(U), Shivesh Kumar of BJP and Upendra Kushwaha of RLM are included.

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RJD’s Amarendra Dhari Singh lost

Actually, in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Amarendra Dhari Singh was the candidate of the Grand Alliance. He was contesting elections for Rajya Sabha for the second time. But, he lost due to lack of coordination in the Grand Alliance. Three Congress MLAs and one RJD MLA supported the NDA by not participating in the elections. The surprising thing is that five MLAs of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which were not part of the Grand Alliance, and one MLA of Bahujan Samaj Party extended their support.

Amarendra Dhari Singh needed 41 MLAs to win but Congress-RJD MLAs remained absent on the day of voting.

Congress also announced that it will protest outside its state office on Tuesday to protest against the policy of vote thief, MLA thief. RJD MLA Faisal Rehman remained missing during voting. Later he came in front of the media.

Tejashwi Yadav after defeat

Tejashwi Yadav reached the Assembly late in the evening around the time of completion of voting. He told reporters, ‘If some of our MLAs had not betrayed us, our candidate would have won the Rajya Sabha elections. What action will be taken against those who remain absent will be decided later. This is another example of misuse of money power and administrative machinery by the BJP, which has adopted such tactics in many states.

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Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha alleged, ‘This result is a big slap for Tejashwi Yadav, who instead of convincing his MLAs, kept them imprisoned in a hotel.’

BJP’s dominance in Odisha also

Similar dramatic developments were seen in Odisha also. Cross-voting of some MLAs of the main opposition party Biju Janata Dal and Congress was done. After this development, BJP won two Rajya Sabha seats in a tough contest. Elections were held for four Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha, in which senior BJP leaders and Odisha State President Manmohan Samal and Sujit Kumar were successful in winning the Rajya Sabha elections. In a significant development, former Union Minister Dilip Rai won as a BJP-backed independent candidate.

The election saw cross-voting of many BJD and Congress MLAs, leading to BJP’s victory. Eight BJD MLAs cross-voted in favor of Dilip Rai. Meanwhile, Sanrat Mishra from BJD won. Congress got nothing.