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Rajya Sabha polls: BJP bags 3 seats in Karnataka; all Congress choices win in Rajasthan

Rajya Sabha polls were held on 16 seats across four states (HT_PRINT)

“They got more votes than the allotted ones, people from the other party helped us," said Ravi. 

While Congress got one seat, HD Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) could not manage to win a single place in these polls. 

In Rajasthan, the Congress party has won three Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan, while one seat has gone to the BJP. 

The winning candidates from Congress are Pramod Tiwari (41 votes), Mukul Wasnik (42 votes) and Randeep Singh Surjewala (43 votes). BJP candidate and former minister Ghanshyam Tiwari won polling 43 votes.

BJP-backed independent candidate Subhash Chandra has lost, polling 30 votes. 

"Congress's victory on three Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan is a victory of democracy. I congratulate all the three newly elected MPs Shri Pramod Tiwari, Shri Mukul Wasnik and Shri Randeep Surjewala. I am sure that all the three MPs will be able to strongly advocate the rights of Rajasthan in Delhi," Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to Twitter to say.

All 200 Rajasthan MLAs had cast their votes for the Rajya Sabha elections by Friday afternoon.

In the House, the Congress has 108 MLAs, BJP 71, Independents 13, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, and the CPI(M) and the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) two each.

Voting was held on 16 Rajya Sabha seats across four states – Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka – on Friday. 

The biennial elections to Rajya Sabha were held to fill 57 seats in the Upper House across 15 states. Of them, 41 candidates belonging to various parties in 11 states – Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab –  won unopposed.

The polls are crucial in view of the upcoming Presidential elections, scheduled to be held on 18 July.

Counting halted in Maharashtra, Haryana

The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules.

The counting was held up in Maharashtra after opposition BJP alleged three MLAs of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)--Cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad (NCP) and Yashomati Thakur (Congress), besides Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande violated the model code for voting.

"We have filed an appeal before the Election Commission of India, seeking that their votes be held invalid," said a state BJP leader.

The BJP has alleged that Awhad and Thakur handed over their ballots to their party agents instead of only showing them the ballots, while Kande showed his ballot to two different agents.

The counting has been put on hold in Haryana for identical reasons.

The BJP and the Independent candidate backed by it have urged the Election Commission to cancel the votes of two Congress MLAs.

BJP nominee Krishan Lal Panwar and Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma shot off a missive to the EC, alleging Congress MLAs Kiran Choudhary and B B Batra showed their ballot papers to unauthorised persons after marking them and that the episodes were "duly captured" on cameras.

The Congress has, meanwhile, approached the Election Commission in New Delhi accusing the BJP of trying to defeat the process of free and fair election to the Rajya Sabha in Haryana and demanded immediate declaration of results.

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