In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress faced a significant setback on Tuesday as the BJP emerged victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections, despite the occurrence of cross-voting across all three states. Meanwhile, the Congress managed to secure three seats in Karnataka, while the BJP clinched an additional seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The polling encompassed 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka, and one in Himachal Pradesh. Notably, on February 20, a total of 41 candidates, including prominent figures like BJP chief J P Nadda, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan, were elected unopposed to the Upper House.
The Rajya Sabha contest in Himachal Pradesh witnessed cross-voting, resulting in the victory of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan over Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Following a tie between the two candidates with 34 votes each, Mahajan was declared the winner by draw of lots. This outcome revealed that six Congress MLAs and three Independents cast their votes in favor of the BJP. Presently, the Congress holds 40 MLAs, BJP 25, while three are independents in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly.
Singhvi criticized the BJP's decision to field a candidate against a party with 40 members, insinuating the BJP's intentions to secure victory through any means necessary, particularly through questionable methods.
Uttar Pradesh witnessed dramatic scenes as concerns over cross-voting emerged. SP chief whip Manoj Pandey resigned while polling was ongoing, and eight SP MLAs abstained from a meeting convened by Yadav the day before. In the electoral fray, SP candidate Alok Ranjan lost to BJP's Sanjay Seth.
Among the notable winners in Uttar Pradesh are former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, Amarpal Maurya, Sangeeta Balwant, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Sadhna Singh, and Naveen Jain from the BJP. Additionally, SP's Jaya Bachchan secured another term, while Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman secured a seat for the party.
In Karnataka, five candidates contested for four seats. The elected candidates include Ajay Maken, G C Chandrasekhar, and Syed Naseer Hussain from the Congress, and Narayansa K Bhandage from the BJP. However, cross-voting occurred as BJP MLA S T Somashekar voted for Maken, and another party legislator, A Shivaram Hebbar, abstained from voting.
Both Somashekar and Hebbar justified their actions, citing their conscience as the guiding factor in their decisions.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav vowed strict action against MLAs engaged in cross-voting, emphasizing that those seeking personal gain would face consequences. He criticized the BJP's tactics, alleging inducements offered to certain MLAs for support.
BJP leader Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya claimed that Yadav's decision to field a third candidate was flawed, as he lacked sufficient support.
On February 20, the BJP secured 20 seats unopposed, followed by the Congress (6), Trinamool Congress (4), YSR Congress (3), RJD (2), BJD (2), and NCP, Shiv Sena, BRS, and JD(U) with one seat each.
Various prominent figures from different states, including BJP's Jasvantsinh Parmar, Mayank Nayak, and Govindbhai Dholakia from Gujarat, Sonia Gandhi, Chunnilal Garasiya, and Madan Rathore from Rajasthan, were elected unopposed.
In Bihar, JD(U)'s Sanjay Kumar Jha, BJP's Dharmshila Gupta and Bhim Singh, and RJD's Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav, along with Akhilesh Prasad Singh from Congress, emerged victorious.
TMC secured victories in West Bengal with candidates like Sushmita Dev, Sagarika Ghose, Mamata Thakur, Md Nadimul Haque, along with BJP's Samik Bhattacharya.
Union minister Murugan, along with other BJP candidates, emerged victorious in Madhya Pradesh, while Congress's Ashok Singh also won unopposed.
From Odisha, Union minister Vaishnaw (BJP) and BJD's Debashish Samantray and Subhashish Khuntia secured victories.
YSR Congress won all three seats in Andhra Pradesh, while in Telangana, the ruling Congress secured two seats and BRS one seat.
In Uttarakhand, Subhash Barala (Haryana) and Devendra Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh) from the BJP were elected unopposed.
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