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Rajya Sabha election: BJP considers legal steps as poll panel cancels two votes
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said the Congress in Gujarat is split vertically and has no future in the BJP ruled state.
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said on Wednesday the Congress won the Rajya Sabha election from the third seat in the state because two votes were invalidated, adding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will explore legal options to challenge the Election Commission’s (EC) decision.
Rupani told this to reporters after Congress leader Ahmed Patel won the bitterly-contested Rajya Sabha election that Congress support had actually come down from 57 MLAs to just 44.
“The Congress earlier had 57 MLAs and along with their allies they had the support of 61 MLAs. But they were reduced to 44 MLAs. Our candidate lost by just half a vote,” he said.
Referring to EC’s decision to invalidate the votes of two Congress rebels, he said the BJP does not agree with it.
“We don’t agree with the EC’s decision, we will take all possible legal action. The two disputed votes, which were invalidated, had they been counted, we would have won,” he added.
He also added that the Congress in Gujarat is “split vertically and has no future in the state”.
Even as Congress’s Patel said the “BJP stands exposed of personal vendetta and political terror”, Union minister Piyush Goyal said there was no reason for the opposition party to be happy.
BJP President Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani also emerged victorious in the election. Shah will enter the Parliament as a member for the first time, while Irani will return for a second term.
Voting for the three Rajya Sabha seats was conducted on Tuesday. The BJP fielded Shah, Irani and Congress turncoat Balwantsinh Rajput, considered a pitch-queering contestant against Patel. Shah and Irani won comfortably as the party has 122 lawmakers in the assembly.
“The reality is they have been reduced to 44. They should introspect on this. Our both the candidates won very comfortably. This is not our defeat,” he also said.
“They have lost popularity among the MLAs. They should not feel that this is their victory. This result will not have any impact on Gujarat assembly elections. BJP will get more than 150 seats, this is very clear,” Goyal further added.
