Rajya Sabha elections: Big upset for Congress in Himachal Pradesh as 6 party MLAs vote for BJP
Rajya Sabha elections: Big upset for Congress in Himachal Pradesh as 6 party MLAs vote for BJP
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major setback in Himachal Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha elections after several party MLAs cross-voted in favour of BJP.
Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, where his party is in power, to BJP’s Harsh Mahajan. The Congress said the nine MLAs cross-voted in the elections.
Both the candidates bagged 34 votes each after which the BJP leader was declared winner by draw of lots.
“I extend heartiest congratulations to Harsh Mahajan, 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,” Abhishek Singhvi said while speaking to reporters.
“I would also like to thank the nine persons (MLAs) because they have taught me a lot about human nature, its fickleness or its resoluteness. They supped with us…So, I think we are bad judges of human character, they are obviously better judges of human character,” he added.
It is a major jolt for the Congress which has 40 MLAs in the 68-member state assembly and claimed support of the independents. The result made it clear that nine MLAs voted in favour of the BJP which was confident that Congress MLAs would exercise ‘conscience vote’.
Polling was held for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka and one seat in Himachal Pradesh. On February 20, 41 candidates including 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.
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