Rajya Sabha elections Latest Updates: Arun Jaitley wins RS polls from UP

Rajya Sabha elections 2018: The BJP is all set to become the biggest gainer from the Rajya Sabha polls for the remaining 25 seats in six states including Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

Image: PTI/Representational

NEW DELHI: The BJP is all set to become the biggest gainer from the Rajya Sabha polls for the remaining 25 seats in six states including Uttar Pradesh on Friday. For the 58 Rajya Sabha seats to be filled, 33 candidates from 10 states were declared elected unopposed on March 15. In Uttar Pradesh, BJP with a brute majority in the state assembly is virtually assured of 8 of the 10 seats. However, there's a suspense whether it can snatch an extra seat in the light of the newfound bonhomie between former arch rivals SP and BSP, in a battle of nerves. Voting will end at 4 pm and counting of ballots will be taken up at 5 pm.

Live Updates of Rajya Sabha elections

• BJP's all eight candidates win RS elections from UP
• Jaya Bachchan of SP wins RS elections from UP
• Anil Jain wins RS elections from UP
• G. V. L. Narasimha Rao wins RS elections from UP
• Arun Jaitley wins RS elections from UP
• BJP's Anil Jain wins RS polls in UP (1st result)
• In Karnataka, 3 seats bagged by Congress, one by BJP
• BJP, Congress win on one seat each in Jharkhand
• One vote of BJP-BSP each invalidated
• Votes of Nitin Agrawal & Anil Singh valid
• Independent MLA Raja Bhaiya has voted for SP

I do believe in democracy. My priority will be to fight against corruption: Subhasish Chakraborty, TMC after winning the #RajyaSabhaElections. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/H8SCMFBIQt

— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2018

#RajyaSabhaPolls - Independent MLA Raja Bhaiya votes in favour of BJP, say Sources. He had in the morning said his 'support is for Akhilesh' following which the former UP CM had thanked him on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/TI9MbNVT9g

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) March 23, 2018

• Counting of votes begins in Uttar Pradesh
• SP and BSP have demand from Election Commission to declare votes of BJP's Nitin Agrawal and BSP's Anil Singh invalid alleging that they did not show their ballot paper to the polling agent.
• The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) has suspended its legislator Prakash Ram for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls.
• West Bengal: Results of 5 seats announced TMC win 4 seats Abhishek Manu Singhvi won in 5th seat with 47 votes Highest vote 54 to TMC candidate Subhasis Chakraborty Left candidate Robin Deb got 30 votes
• Counting of votes has not begun in UP yet
• Rajya Sabha Elections - Relief for BSP as BJP ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party's MLA Kailash Nath Sonkar does cross voting
• Karnataka: JDS demands cancellation of Rajya Sabha Elections. Party's Kumaraswamy says two Congress MLAs cross-voted.

 

.@yadavakhilesh thanks Raja Bhaiya for supporting #SamajwadiParty in UP #RajyaSabhaPolls, tweets his photo with him. pic.twitter.com/6WVJrYelLV

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) March 23, 2018

Independent MLA Raja Bhaiya says he will vote for SP candidate in #RajyaSabhaPolls

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) March 23, 2018

• Independent MLA Aman Mani Tripathi says he'll follow the advice of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath whom he refers to as "Maharaj Ji'. It means he will vote for the BJP in Rajya Sabha polls.

 

न मैं बदला हूँ, न मेरी राजनैतिक विचारधारा बदली है, ‘मैं अखिलेश जी के साथ हूँ,’ का ये अर्थ बिल्कुल नहीं कि मैं बसपा के साथ हूँ।

— Raja Bhaiya (@Raghuraj_Bhadri) March 23, 2018

• Independent MLA Raja Bhaiya says he's with Akhilesh Yadav and not with Mayawati. Sources also say Raja Bhaiya and Vinod Saroj, another independent MLA, may vote in favour of BJP.
• First cross-voting in Uttar Pradesh, BSP MLA Anil Singh says he has voted for BJP in Rajya Sabha elections. "I have voted for BJP, I don't know about others," Anil Singh said.

#Kolkata: MLAs queue up at the state assembly to cast their votes for #RajyaSabhaElections, 5 seats are being contested from West Bengal pic.twitter.com/2N6qBEEV9v

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) March 23, 2018

• BJP will win all the nine Rajya Sabha seats where we have fielded our candidates. Nine more BJP candidates will make entry to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh this time: Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya

Lucknow: Visuals from Uttar Pradesh Assembly; CM Yogi Adityanath meets party MLAs, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma also present. #RajyaSabhaElections pic.twitter.com/DwSfe53Aqj

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 23, 2018

Vijay Mishra (Nishad Party MLA) & Anil Singh (BSP MLA) were present there (yesterday's meeting of BJP & its allies), which confirms their support: OP Rajbhar, UP Minister #RajyaSabhaElections pic.twitter.com/rQSVhAcUMy

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 23, 2018

• SP candidate Jaya Bachchan Ji & BSP candidate, (Bhim Rao Ambedkar) whom we are supporting, will win the Rajya Sabha elections. Considering BJP's condition I'd say that its own MLAs are annoyed & some of them may even end up siding with the opposition: Rajendra Chaudhary, SP
• Voting for remaining 25 Rajya Sabha seats begins.

A bypoll will also be held for one seat in Kerala that was represented by JDU leader Veerendra Kumar, who resigned in December in protest against his party's decision to support the NDA. Six candidates, including senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, are in the fray for the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee's ruling TMC is backing Singhvi's nomination to the Upper House. Four candidates will try their luck from Telangana where polling will be held for three seats. Polling will also be held for two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand where three candidates --two from BJP and one from Congress are in the fray. One candidate each of the ruling BJP and main opposition Congress will cross swords for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Chhattisgarh. Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections The biggest battle for the Rajya Sabha will be in Uttar Pradesh, where BJP has the numbers to send its eight candidates to the upper house but eyeing an extra seat to disturb the equation of the SP-BSP alliance. In order to ensure a straight win in the Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate has to get 37 votes. The BJP has 324 MLAs in the state assembly and is assured of at least eight seats. The saffron party will have 28 surplus votes and hope to gain from dissension in rival parties to get his ninth candidate into the Upper House from UP. The BSP has 19 MLAs in the 403-member Assembly and is short of 18 first preference votes. The SP, which has 47 MLAs in the House, can transfer 10 surplus votes to the BSP taking the number of first preference votes for the BSP candidate to 29. Now, the seven votes of the Congress and one of RLD can help the BSP candidate reach the magic figure of 37 votes. Tsk not so easy for BSP BSP MLA Anil Singh indicated that he had cross-voted in favour of the BJP, saying "I am with Maharaj-ji", referring to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari and SP MLA Hari Om Yadav on Thursday withdrew their petitions seeking permission to allow them to cast votes. Now both jailed MLAs won't be able to cast their votes in the Rajya Sabha elections, making equation tougher for SP and BSP. Former SP leader Naresh Aggarwal, who defected to BJP, has already announced that the vote of his son Nitin Agarwal will go to BJP. Independent MLA Aman Mani Tripathi said he was with 'Maharaj ji' and would vote for the BJP. Another independent MLA Raja Bhaiya said he is with Akhilesh Yadav and noot with Mayawati, indicating he may also vote for BJP. The SP has fielded Jaya Bachchan and the BSP Bhimrao Ambedkar. Uttar Pradesh sends 31 MPs to the 245-member Rajya Sabha, and the BJP, which won a massive victory in the 2017 Assembly elections, is yet to get a lion's share of these. Presently, the BJP has 58 Rajya Sabha MPs.