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BJP clinches pre-dawn thrillers in Maharashtra, Haryana
Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections finished at 4pm on Friday but counting was stalled in Maharashtra and Haryana over a web of allegations and counter-allegations of malpractice and bias.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled off a pair of thrilling early-morning victories in Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra and Haryana on Saturday, striking a blow to the Opposition that was unable to keep its flock of legislators together and prevent cross-voting.
The BJP won three of the six seats in Maharashtra as its third candidate (after Piyush Goyal and Anil Bonde) Dhananjay Mahadik beat the Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Pawar in a cliffhanger. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won three seats – Nationalist Congress Party’s Praful Patel, Congress’s Imran Pratapgarhi and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut – but it will be little consolation after the embarrassing loss of Pawar, who fell short after independent lawmakers switched to the BJP, cancellation of a vote due to alleged violation of rules, and inability of two jailed ministers to vote.
In Haryana, the BJP won one seat (Krishan Lal Panwar) and media executive Kartikeya Sharma, who was backed by the party, defeated Congress’s Ajay Maken by a razor-thin margin. The results are a blow for senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was unable to resolve differences with his rival Kuldeep Bishnoi, who cross-voted. Another Congress vote was disqualified, handing Sharma a narrow victory.
Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections finished at 4pm on Friday but counting was stalled in Maharashtra and Haryana over a web of allegations and counter-allegations of malpractice and bias. The Election Commission gave the go-ahead for counting in these two states only around 1am on Saturday.
In two other states, however, the results were announced on Friday. In Rajasthan, the Congress won three seats and the BJP one. Congress nominees Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari won as did BJP’s Ghanshyam Tiwari. Tiwari defeated BJP-backed independent candidate, media baron Subhash Chandra.
In Karnataka, the BJP won three seats and the Congress one as the Janata Dal (Secular) drew a blank amid allegations of cross-voting against the party’s lawmakers. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Kannada actor Jaggesh and member of legislative council Lahar Singh Siroya – all from the BJP – were declared winners. Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh won from the Congress.
The results of the elections brought more embarrassment for the Opposition, which was not able to match the BJP’s challenge in Maharashtra and Haryana. In both states, opposition parties had the numbers to get their nominees through but were done in by infighting, an inability to convince smaller parties and independents to back them and cross-voting. It also means that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is already close to a working majority in the Upper House, will have the upper hand for the remainder of its term on pushing through key items of its legislative agenda.
Rajya Sabha members are elected based on the relative strengths of their parties in state assemblies. In this round of biennial elections, 57 seats were on offer and 41 were declared uncontested last week. Of the 16 that went to the polls on Friday, the BJP won eight, the Congress won five, its allies won two and an independent backed by the BJP won one.
This round of elections marked a victory for the BJP, which, purely on its own strength of lawmakers, should have won six seats but picked up an extra seat in Karnataka and Maharashtra each, and propelled Sharma to a victory in Haryana. The Congress won 10 seats.
The BJP’s strong performances in assembly elections in recent years has buoyed its Upper House tally, which rose from 68 in 2018 to 95 before this round of biennial elections. The BJP effectively maintains its tally of 95 (this includes Sharma). This, in addition to the party’s demonstrated success at getting other parties to back it, will give it the edge in the presidential elections in July.
The BJP raised the stakes in this round of elections by fielding extra candidates in Maharashtra (three candidates when it had the numbers for two) and Karnataka (three candidates when it had the numbers for two) and backing independents in Haryana and Rajasthan. For the Opposition, therefore, the challenge was to keep its lawmakers united and gain the support of independent MLAs, a test it failed largely, except in Rajasthan.
After the fireworks on Friday night, all eyes were on Maharashtra and Haryana, where counting was stalled for nine hours.
In Maharashtra, the BJP alleged that NCP’s Jitendra Awhad, Congress’s Yashomati Thakur and Sena’s Suhas Kande violated the model code for voting. The BJP alleged Awhad and Thakur handed over their ballots to their party agents instead of only showing them the ballots, while Kande showed his ballot to two different agents.
In the end, the EC cancelled Kande’s vote. This, coupled with possible cross voting and the inability of jailed ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, damaged the MVA.
In the state, a candidate needed 41 votes to win. In the first round, Goyal (48 votes), Bonde (48 votes), Pratapgarhi (44 votes), Patel (43 votes) and Raut (41 votes) won.
In the first round, Mahadik received 27 votes and Pawar got 33. In the second, Goyal and Bonde’s surplus votes (seven each) went to Mahadik (who was the second preference candidate on these ballots), bumping him up to 41.
“Elections are contested not just for the fight, but the victory. Jai Maharashtra,” tweeted Devendra Fadnavis, former chief minister.
“The sixth seat was a risk for the MVA, but Uddhav Thackeray took the risk. In politics, one has to take risks,” NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.
Talking to reporters in Pune, Sharad Pawar said: “I am not shocked to see the results. The MVA candidates received votes in proportion to the number of MLAs. However, one has to accept the miracle in which BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis succeeded in weaning away independent MLAs and also those from smaller parties, who would have otherwise supported the MVA. He was successful in bringing people (independent MLAs) close to him by using different means.”
The loss will hurt the image of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who both worked to coordinate the alliance’s strategy and sequester lawmakers away from poaching attempts. The state government is already battling corruption charges and the Rajya Sabha defeat is likely to cause further unrest.
In Haryana, the BJP went to the EC accusing Haryana Congress’s legislators BB Batra and Kiran Choudhry of “openly displaying their ballot papers”. Moreover, a feud between Hooda and Congress lawmaker Kuldeep Bishnoi hurt Maken’s chances.
With one independent MLA abstaining and one vote cancelled, the formula for winning came down to 29.34 votes. In the first round, Panwar received 36 votes, Maken 29 and Sharma 23. In the second round, Panwar’s surplus 6.66 votes were transferred to Sharma, pushing his tally to 29.66 – marginally above Maken.
“Bishnoi has heard the voice of his inner soul to connect with the emotion of the Nation,’’ said chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
The results hurt the chances of Hooda, who was hoping to be the chief ministerial face of the Congress in the 2024 assembly elections but was not able to ensure Maken’s win despite making personal appeals.
Hooda said that he did not know whose vote was declared invalid, adding that a report will be sent to the party high command and action initiated against Bishnoi.
The Congress on Saturday expelled Bishnoi from all party positions. “The Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) 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 KC Venugopal said.
