The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch said the report was based on the analysis of self-sworn affidavits of all 57 MPs who were elected to Rajya Sabha this month.
Tag: Rajya Sabha Elections 2022
-
Cross voting in Rajya Sabha polls: Congress expels its Haryana MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi from all party positions
By PTI
NEW DELHI: A day after losing the Rajya Sabha election in Haryana due to cross-voting, the Congress cracked the whip and expelled its legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi from all party positions.
The Haryana Congress has alleged that Bishnoi, an MLA from the Adampur constituency in Hisar, did not vote for the party candidate Ajay Maken and cross-voted in favour of Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, who was supported by the ruling BJP-JJP combine.
The Congress had 31 MLA and needed as many votes to win the Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana, but one of its legislators cross-voted and another’s vote was cancelled.
“The Congress president has expelled Kuldeep Bishnoi from all his present party positions, including the post of special invitee of the Congress Working Committee, with immediate effect,” a statement from AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.
Bishnoi had not attended any of the party meetings of its legislators and had said that he has voted as per his conscience.
-
Action sought against Congress’ Kuldeep Bishnoi for cross-voting during Rajya Sabha polls: Sources
Congress nominee Ajay Maken failed to secure Rajya Sabha berth after one of the party's MLAs, Bishnoi, cross-voted, while the vote of an MLA was declared invalid.
-
Mallikarjun Kharge, Bhupesh Baghel appointed observers ahead of Rajya Sabha polls
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Ahead of the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed senior party leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge and Bhupesh Baghel, as observers.
While Kharge has been made the observer for Maharashtra, Baghel and Rajeev Shukla have been made observers for Haryana, and Pawan Kumar Bansal and T S Singh Deo for Rajasthan.
The Congress is seeking to ensure that its candidates win the Rajya Sabha (RS) elections in Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, while the BJP has put its weight behind independent candidates in Haryana and Rajasthan.
AICC general secretary Ajay Maken is the Congress candidate from Haryana, where two seats have fallen vacant.
The Congress and the BJP are likely to get one seat each, but the BJP has backed media baron Kartikeya Sharma as an independent.
Sharma is the son of Venod Sharma and son-in-law of former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma.
Both are considered close to former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Congress needs 31 votes to win the seat and has as many MLAs.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking on cross-voting.
For the four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan, the Congress has fielded three candidates — Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari.
While Congress is sure to get two seats, it needs 15 more votes to win the third seat of Tiwari.
The BJP has fielded its former minister Ghanshyam Tiwari, and backed media baron Subhash Chandra as an independent for the second seat.
In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the BJP will battle it out for the sixth seat of Rajya Sabha as none of the seven candidates in the fray — four of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and three of the BJP — withdrew their nominations on Friday.
The Congress has also fielded another candidate Mansoor Ali Khan in Karnataka, where the election will be held on June 10 for four seats.
Jairam Ramesh is the other Congress candidate.
The Congress is expecting three seats in Rajasthan and the BJP is expecting one of its own and is supporting an independent and Subhash Chandra for the fourth seat.
Meanwhile, nearly 70 Congress MLAs from Rajasthan are camping at a hotel in Udaipur ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections to the four seats in which the party fears horse-trading by the opposition BJP, party sources said.
The Congress, with its 108 MLAs in the state assembly, is set to win two seats.
After winning the two seats, the party will have 26 surplus votes, 15 short of the required 41 to win the third seat.
On the other hand, the BJP has 71 MLAs in the state assembly and is set to win one seat after which it will be left with 30 surplus votes.
The Congress has also shifted its MLAs in Haryana to a resort in Raipur in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh.
Of the 57 vacancies in Rajya Sabha, 41 candidates in 11 states have so far been elected unopposed.
The elections will be held for 16 seats in four states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Karnataka.
-
Snubbed by JDU, Union minister RCP Singh to seek PM’s advice on continuing in Cabinet
By PTI
PATNA: Chastened by the snub from his JD(U), which has denied him another term in the Rajya Sabha, Union minister RCP Singh on Monday said he will seek advice from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on whether he should continue in the cabinet.
Talking to reporters for the first time after being blindsided by the party he once headed, Singh, however, swore by his loyalty towards Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the de facto leader of the JD(U), claiming that he had become a minister in the Union cabinet with “full approval” of the latter.
“For all that I have achieved in my political career so far, I thank Nitish babu. I will continue to work for the party organisation in whatever capacity he deems fit for me. As far as Union cabinet is concerned, since it is the Prime Minister’s prerogative I will have to seek his advice. If he says I should resign, I will do so,” said the bureaucrat-turned-politician.
Singh is serving his second consecutive tenure at the Rajya Sabha, which comes to an end in July.
As per rules, he can continue as a Union minister, without being a member of either house of Parliament, for not more than six months.
The JD(U) had sprung a surprise on Sunday when it announced its Jharkhand unit chief and former MLA Kheeru Mahto as the candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar.
The former UP cadre IAS officer, who was the JD(U) national president till the time he got inducted into the Union cabinet, pooh-poohed suggestions that the Bihar chief minister was upset over his accepting a ministerial berth despite the latter being opposed to a “token representation” and insisting on a “respectable” share.
Notably, Kumar had turned down the offer of “token representation” made by BJP to all allies soon after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which saw Modi returning to power with a brute majority.
Induction of RCP Singh in the cabinet last year was viewed in many quarters as a softening of stance by Kumar, in the wake of his diminished strength in the state assembly in 2020 polls.
However, many JD(U) leaders claimed on condition of anonymity that Kumar was still insistent on a greater share in the Union cabinet, in view of the fact that following the exit of the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal, the NDA was bereft of major allies and his party was the BJP’s oldest and largest coalition partner.
The JD(U) leaders also contended that RCP, who belongs to the same Nalanda district and Kurmi caste as Kumar, might have misled the BJP leadership into believing that the Bihar CM was now ready for a smaller share in power at the Centre.
Despite his professed admiration for Kumar, RCP Singh did not seem impressed with speculations that his political mentor was a “prime ministerial candidate”.
“You tell me how is that possible. To become the PM, you need 273 MPs. Our party is confined to Bihar. People like H D Deve Gowda became PM but how long did they last? Our leader Nitish babu has already made history. He is the longest-serving chief minister of the state,” said the Union minister, who is seen by many in the JD(U) as having grown too close to the BJP.
The former JD(U) president also rubbished speculations about his tug of war with his successor Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan.
“I had accompanied him (Lalan) when he was filing his nomination papers from Munger during the Lok Sabha polls. I have excellent relations with all colleagues in the party,” he said.
-
Balbir Singh Seechewal, Vikramjit Singh Sahney to be AAP candidates for Rajya Sabha from Punjab
By PTI
CHANDIGARH: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab on Saturday declared noted environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal and an entrepreneur, philanthropist and social activist Vikramjit Singh Sahney as its candidates for Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
An announcement in this regard was made by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on his Twitter handle.
“I am happy to announce that AAP is nominating two Padma Shri awardees for the Rajya Sabha. One is environmentalist Padma Shri Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal and second is Padma Shri Vikramjit Singh Sahney. My best wishes to both of them,” said CM Mann in a tweet.
The term of Rajya Sabha members from Punjab Ambika Soni (Congress) and Balwinder Singh Bhunder (Shiromani Akali Dal) is due to expire on July 4.
The last date for the filing of nominations is May 31.
The scrutiny of nominations will be done on June 1 while the last date of for the withdrawal of candidature is June 3.
The date of polling is June 10 from 9 am to 4 pm.
The counting will be held on the same day at 5 pm.