News Analysis India

Tag: Rajya Sabha polls

  • A day before RS polls, 8 SP MLAs skip meeting called by Akhilesh Yadav

    Lucknow: As many as eight MLAs of the Samajwadi Party did not attend a meeting called by party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday, a day before the voting for the Rajya Sabha elections. A senior SP leader requesting anonymity said that the party chief had called a meeting to brief the MLAs about the voting process of the Rajya Sabha elections. However, chief whip of the party in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Manoj Pandey and seven other MLAs — Mukesh Verma, Maharaji Prajapati, Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi, Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh did not attend the meeting.

    Speaking to PTI, SP’s national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary accepted that eight MLAs did not attend the dinner and meeting called by party chief Akhilesh Yadav. However, he did not name the MLAs.

    On a question whether Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel, who is an SP MLA, attended the meeting, Chaudhary said that though she was not in the meeting, she had a separate meeting with Yadav. She also assured her support to the SP candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections, Chaudhary said. The SP’s national spokesperson also said that the real stance of the MLAs who were absent from the meeting will be clear only on Tuesday during the voting for the Rajya Sabha elections.

    He exuded confidence that all the three SP candidates will win the elections.

    The stage is set for a high-pitched electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday, with the BJP fielding eight candidates and the opposition Samajwadi Party three for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats. The ruling BJP and the principal opposition SP have the numbers to send seven and three members, respectively to the Rajya Sabha, but with the BJP fielding Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate, a keen contest is on the cards for one of the seats. Seth, an industrialist and former SP leader, had joined the BJP in 2019.

    The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member state assembly with 252 and 108 MLAs, respectively. The Congress, an alliance partner of the SP, has two seats.

    BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 seats, NISHAD Party has six seats, RLD has nine, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP has one seat. Four seats are currently vacant.

    The seven other candidates fielded by the BJP are former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh and former Agra mayor Naveen Jain.

    The Samajwadi Party has fielded actor-MP Jaya Bachchan, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman.

    To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs 37 first preference votes, an official said.

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  • UP to witness keen contest in Feb 27 Rajya Sabha polls

    Lucknow: The February 27 Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh will witness a high-pitched electoral battle ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, with the BJP fielding eight candidates and the opposition Samajwadi Party three for the 10 seats up for grabs. The outcome of the polls to the Rajya Sabha is likely to have an impact in the politically crucial state just ahead of the general elections in the country.

    The ruling BJP and the principal opposition SP have the numbers to send seven and three members respectively unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, but with the BJP fielding Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate, a keen contest is on the cards in one of the seats.

    Seth, a local industrialist and former SP leader, joined the BJP in 2019. He filed his nomination in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and other senior party leaders. Voting for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on Tuesday and the results will also be announced the same day.

    The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member state assembly with 252 MLAs and 108 MLAs respectively. The Congress, an alliance partner of the SP, has two seats. BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) 13, NISHAD Party six, RLD nine, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP one. Four seats are currently vacant.

    The seven other candidates fielded by the BJP are former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant (Bind) party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh and former Agra mayor Naveen Jain. The SP has fielded actor-MP Jaya Bachchan, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman. To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs nearly 37 first preference votes, an official said.

    Elaborating further about the Rajya Sabha elections, Returning Officer Brijbhushan Dubey said, “A candidate will need 36.37 first preference votes to register a win. At present, there are 399 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.”

    Asked whether the three jailed MLAs will also be able to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections, Dubey told PTI that it would be decided by the court and the political party concerned.

    SP MLAs Irfan Solanki and Ramakant Yadav and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) legislator Abbas Ansari are in prison.

    Dubey further said that MLAs will enter from gate 7, take ballot papers from room 80 and head to Tilak Hall to cast their votes.

    “Polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm. Counting will commence from 5 pm and results are likely to be announced on Tuesday night,” he added.

    Exuding confidence in the BJP’s performance in the Rajya Sabha elections, Maurya told PTI, “All BJP candidates will register a win in the Rajya Sabha elections.”

    Chief whip of the Samajwadi Party in the legislative assembly Manoj Pandey said all SP MLAs will be voting for the party’s candidates in the Rajya Sabha election.

    Asked if one of the SP candidates may eventually fall short by one vote, Pandey said, “How will we fall short? Our people had contested (the 2022 UP Assembly elections) from the SBSP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. And, basically, they are from the SP.”

    Although Pandey exuded confidence that MLAs of the SBSP and the RLD will vote for the SP candidates, both parties have joined the BJP-led NDA.

    Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel, an ally of the Samajwadi Party, had earlier said that she would not vote in the Rajya Sabha polls as she did not agree with the SP decision to field Bachchan and Ranjan.

    Speaking to PTI on Sunday, she said, “I will be voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. That is my right and my duty. But I have not decided yet who will be the candidate.”

    On whether the two jailed SP MLAs would be casting their votes, Pandey said, “The party is making efforts to bring them to Lucknow so that they can cast their votes.”

    “All the three candidates fielded by the party will emerge victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections,” former chief secretary of the state and SP candidate Ranjan told PTI.

    He added that unlike the Lok Sabha elections or the legislative assembly elections, Rajya Sabha polls are a different ball game altogether.

    Congress MLA from Pharenda in Maharajganj district told PTI, “Now, with the Congress and Samajwadi Party forging an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the picture here is also very clear. We will vote for the candidates fielded by the SP. The candidate of the SP will be our candidate. We will vote for the SP candidate, about whom we will be told by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.”

    Ramashish Rai UP unit chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal, which recently switched over to the NDA fold said that all the RLD MLAs will vote for the BJP candidates in the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections.

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  • Rajya Sabha polls: Congress may sequester its MLAs in resort

    The ruling Congress is said to be planning to sequester its 135 MLAs in a private resort ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled for February 27 as the party leaders are worried over reports of its MLAs and independent members being approached by the NDA leaders.

    The presence of Kupendra Reddy, a wealthy businessman, as JDS candidate in the electoral fray has disturbed the peace of top Congress leaders, especially, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar.

    He had, on Monday, accused JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy of making “offers” to Congress MLAs to influence them to vote for his party candidate in the February 27 polls. The Congress has even filed a complaint with the Vidhana Soudha police accusing the Opposition parties of trying to lure its MLAs with offers of bribes for voting for the JDS candidate in the RS polls.

    Reddy has emerged as NDA’s surprise fifth candidate. If not for him, the four candidates would have won unopposed.

    The Congress is confident of securing the full support of its 135 MLAs, and three independents to get its three candidates through. There are only four RS vacancies in Karnataka, and the BJP and Congress have fielded one and three candidates, respectively. The JDS has maintained that it has fielded Reddy not to let the NDA’s surplus votes go waste. AICC leader Ajay Maken and sitting Rajya Sabha members GC Chandrashekar and Syed Naseer Hussain are contesting from the Congress while the BJP has fielded former MLC Narayansa Bhandage. A candidate needs 45 votes to win.

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  • Rajya Sabha Polls: Sonia, Nadda Among 41 Elected Unopposed, Voting For 15 Seats On Feb 27 |

    New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha elections saw 41 candidates getting elected without any opposition on Tuesday, including former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP president J P Nadda, Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan, and BJP’s new entrant Ashok Chavan. The remaining 15 seats in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will go to polls on February 27. The BJP emerged as the biggest winner, securing 20 seats, followed by the Congress (6), Trinamool Congress (4), YSR Congress (3), RJD (2), BJD (2) and NCP, Shiv Sena, BRS and JD(U) one each. The returning officers declared these 41 candidates as winners on the last date of withdrawal of nominations, as there were no other contenders for these seats.

    The biennial elections were scheduled for February 27 in 56 seats. Out of these, 50 members will retire on April 2 and six on April 3. The voting for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka and one in Himachal Pradesh will take place from 9 am to 4 pm and the counting will start from 5 pm on the same day.

    Nadda and his party colleagues Jasvantsinh Parmar, Mayank Nayak and diamond tycoon Govindbhai Dholakia won from Gujarat. The Congress, which has only 15 MLAs, and other opposition parties did not field any candidates against the BJP, which has 156 legislators in the 182-member Gujarat assembly.

    Sonia Gandhi was among the three candidates who won from Rajasthan, along with BJP’s Chunnilal Garasiya and Madan Rathore.

    Maharashtra also saw six candidates getting elected unopposed – BJP’s Chavan, who switched from the Congress last Tuesday, Medha Kulkarni and Ajit Gopchhade; Shiv Sena’s Milind Deora, who quit the Congress last month, Praful Patel (NCP) and Chandrakant Handore (Cong).

    In Bihar, JD(U)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, BJP’s Dharmshila Gupta and Bhim Singh, Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav (both RJD) and Akhilesh Prasad Singh (Congress) were the winners.

    Uttar Pradesh will have a contest for 10 seats among 11 candidates. The BJP has nominated eight candidates – former Union minister R P N Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, state party general secretary Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh, former Agra mayor Naveen Jain and local industrialist and ex-SP leader Sanjay Seth who joined the BJP in 2019.

    The Samajwadi Party (SP) has renominated Jaya Bachchan and also named former MP Ramjilal Suman and retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan as its candidates.

    In Karnataka, four seats will see a fight among five candidates. The Congress has put up Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrasekhar, while Narayansa Bandage is the BJP candidate. JD(S) leader and ex-Rajya Sabha member D Kupendra Reddy is also in the fray.

    In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP has forced a contest by fielding Harsh Mahajan against Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi for the lone seat despite lacking enough MLAs to win.

    In the evening, TMC’s Sushmita Dev, Sagarika Ghose, Mamata Thakur and Md Nadimul Haque and Samik Bhattacharya (BJP) were the winners from West Bengal.

    Union minister Murugan, Valmiki Dham Ashram head Umesh Nath Maharaj, Kisan Morcha’s national vice president Banshilal Gurjar, and Madhya Pradesh BJP’s women wing president Maya Naroliya secured four seats for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh while Ashok Singh of the Congress also won without any opposition.

    From Odisha, Union minister Vaishnaw (BJP) and BJD’s Debashish Samantray and Subhashish Khuntia were the winners.

    The YSR Congress bagged all the three seats in Andhra Pradesh – G Babu Rao, Y V Subba Reddy and M Raghunath Reddy while in neighbouring Telangana, the ruling Congress won two seats – Renuka Chowdhury and Anil Kumar Yadav – and BRS one seat – V Ravichandra.

    BJP nominees in Uttarakhand (Mahendra Bhatt), Subhash Barala (Haryana), Devendra Pratap Singh (Chhattisgarh) won without any contest.

  • Rajya Sabha polls: Nominations filing for Rajya Sabha polls ends; Check full list of candidates here

    BJP chief J P Nadda, Ashok Chavan, a recent addition to the party, and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi are among the candidates competing in the Rajya Sabha elections, as the deadline for submitting nominations concluded on Thursday.

    The biennial elections are scheduled on February 27 in 56 seats – 10 in Uttar Pradesh, six each in Maharashtra and Bihar, five each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, four each in Gujarat and Karnataka, three each in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Odisha, and one each in Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

    However, a majority of the candidates are likely to get elected unopposed. February 20 is the last date of withdrawing candidature. Voting is scheduled to take place from 9 am to 4 pm on February 27 and the counting will be held on the same day from 5 pm onwards.Here is the complete list of all the candidates:

    Uttar Pradesh:

    CandidatePartyR P N SinghBJPChaudhary Tejveer SinghBJPAmarpal MauryaBJPSangeeta BalwantBJPSudhanshu TrivediBJP Sadhna SinghBJPNaveen JainBJPSanjay SethBJP Jaya BachchanSPRamjilal Suman SPAlok RanjanSPGujarat:CandidatePartyJP NaddaBJPJashvantsinh Parmar BJPMayank NayakBJPGovind DholakiaBJPRajasthan:CandidatePartySonia GandhiCongressChunnilal GarasiyaBJPMadan Rathore BJP

    Maharashtra:

    CandidatePartyAshok ChavanBJPMedha KulkarniBJPAjit GopchhadeBJPMilind DeoraShiv SenaChandrakant HandoreCongressPraful PatelNCP

    Odisha:

    Ashwini VaishnawBJPDebashish SamantarayBJDSubhasish KhuntiaBJD

    Madhya Pradesh:

    L MuruganBJPDalit seer Umesh Nath MaharajBJPMaya NaroliyaBJPBanshilal GurjarBJPAshok SinghCongress

    Karnataka:

    CandidatePartyAjay MakenCongressNaseer HussainCongress G C ChandrasekharCongressNarayana Krishanasa BhandageBJP

    West Bengal:

    CandidatePartySagarika GhoseTMCSushmita DevTMCMohammad Nadimul HaqueTMCMamta Bala Thakur TMCSamik BhattacharyaBJP

    Himachal Pradesh:

    CandidatePartyAbhishek Manu SinghviCongress

    Telangana:

    CandidatePartyRenuka Chowdhury CongressM Anil Kumar YadavCongress

    Bihar:

    CandidatePartyAkhilesh Prasad SinghCongressManoj Kumar JhaRJDSanjay Yadav RJDSanjay Kumar JhaJDUBhim Singh BJPDharamsheela GuptaBJP

    Chhattisgarh:

    CandidatePartyDevendra Pratap SinghBJP

    Haryana:

    CandidatePartySubhash BaralaBJP

    Uttarakhand:

    CandidatePartyMahendra BhattBJP

    Andhra Pradesh:

    CandidatePartyGola Babu RaoYSRCPYV Subba ReddyYSRCPMeda Raghunath ReddyYSRCP

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  • Rajya Sabha Polls: BJP Nominates JP Nadda From Gujarat, Ashok Chavan From Maharashtra |

    New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released another list of seven names for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, nominating party president JP Nadda from Gujarat and newly inducted leader Ashok Chavan from Maharashtra. In its latest list, the BJP has declared four names from Gujarat and three from Maharashtra. Besides JP Nadda, the BJP nominated Govindbhai Dholakia, Mayanbhai Nayak and Jashvantsinh Parmar from Gujarat.

    For Maharashtra, besides Ashok Chavan, the party has named Medha Kulkarni and Ajit Gopchhade. Former Maharashtra chief minister Chavan quit Congress earlier this week and joined the BJP in the presence of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, Nadda, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh, is being fielded from Gujarat since the BJP does not have the numbers to win the lone seat in the Congress-ruled hill state.

    Earlier today, the BJP announced that it’s nominating Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw from Odisha and L Murugan from Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming elections. On Sunday, the BJP named 14 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including former Union Minister R P N Singh and party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.

    The last day for filing nomination papers is February 15. The term for Rajya Sabha MPs is six years and elections are held after every two years for 33 per cent of the seats. Currently, the Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members.

    Out of the total 245 members, out of which 233 are representatives of the States and Union Territories of Delhi, Puducherry Jammu and Kashmir (w.e.f. 31.10. 2019) 12 are nominated by the President. Based on population, each state is allocated a certain number of candidates in the Upper House.

    Members of the state legislative assemblies choose Rajya Sabha members through an indirect election system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.

    The Election Commission has scheduled the Rajya Sabha elections for 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh, for February 27. Voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on this date, with the deadline for nominations set for February 15. The results of the elections will be announced on the same day, February 27. The Election Commission has announced the biennial Rajya Sabha polls on February 27 for 56 seats, as the tenure of incumbents ends in April. 

  • 40 per cent of newly elected Rajya Sabha MPs have criminal cases: Report

    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.

  • Rajya Sabha elections: Haryana independent’s vote validity to face judicial challenge

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The last chapter in the Haryana Rajya Sabha election saga is yet to be written. A photocopy of a ballot paper purportedly of an Independent MLA is doing the rounds in Congress circles. This MLA marked his vote in favour of Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma who was later declared elected.

    What was interesting in this ballot paper was that the voting mark was not found in the prescribed box but next to Sharma’s name. Sources said Congress will challenge the validity of this vote. Its legal team is huddled together to prepare a petition, which will be filed in court on Monday.

    The petition reportedly will demand the rejection of the Independent’s vote. It could alternatively seek a ruling declaring party MLA Kiran Choudhary’s rejected vote as valid. Sharma had edged past Maken on the basis of the second preference votes. His margin of victory is so thin that if the court rejects the Independent MLA’s vote, Maken will win. Sources said Kiran’s vote was rejected because she had put a tick mark in front of Maken’s name instead of writing the number 1 in the box alongside.

    When the ballot of the Independent came up for scrutiny, Returning Officer Rajendra Singh Nandal is learnt to have pointed out that the vote was not written in the prescribed box. There are three horizontal boxes on the ballot. First has the name of the candidate, second the photo, and the last box is for marking the vote. The Independent MLA put the mark ‘1’ in the name box. 

    Nandal reportedly insisted on rejecting the vote, but Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Agarwal and Special Observer Anurag Agarwal, both IAS officers, overruled him. Nandal is a state services officer. The IAS duo reportedly said that the intention of the Independent was clear, to which Nandal said Kiran’s intention, too, was equally clear. The question, Nandal reportedly said, was whether the preference was marked in a prescribed manner or not. 

  • 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.