Though neither Bharatiya Janta Party, nor Congress held a majority in the house, the NDA won by seeking help from various other parties. Immediately after the election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Harivansh Narayan Singh and lauded him in the house.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and snior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad congratulated Singh saying, "In elections, someone wins and someone loses. But the Deputy Chairman is no longer associated with any single party. He belongs to the country now."
Leader of House Arun Jaitley, who attended the Rajya Sabha for the first time in the ongoing monsoon session after recuperating from an illness, also congratulated Singh on his election. "I am confident that Harivansh Singh would uphold the integrity of the post."
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- PM Modi congratulates Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh in Rajya Sabha
- Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad congratulates newly elected Deputy Chairman of upper house of the parliament
- NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh attains majority, elected as Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha with 125 votes
- 122 votes in favour of NDA nominee Harivansh, 98 votes in favour of UPA candidate BK Hariprasad in second round of voting
- Voting underway in RS for the election of Deputy chairman
- Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad says "NDA will have decisive victory"
- After promising vote to UPA, YSR Congress to boycott voting for Rajya Sabha deputy chairman election
- UPA candidate for Rajya Sabha deputy chairman election BK Hariprasad says "Confident of victory, we have required numbers"
- AAP to boycott the election, "Rahul Gandhi should have called and asked us for support" says AAP Leader Sanjay Singh
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The BJD will support the JD(U) since the two parties have emerged from the Jay Prakash Narayan movement, while the Congress candidate was the AICC in-charge of Odisha and vitriolic in his statements against the BJD, Patnaik said.
The numbers, therefore, appear stacked in favour of the ruling coalition which claims the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs.
While Harivansh is a first-time MP of the JD-U, Hariprasad is a three-time parliamentarian of the Congress.
The BJD has nine MPs in the Upper House.