NDA sweeps Rajya Sabha polls in three states, strengthens Upper House hold

The ruling NDA swept the Rajya Sabha elections held in three states for 11 seats on Monday (March 16). The NDA alliance won eight seats, including one Independent backed by it, and the BJD bagged one seat.

Bihar's longest-serving chief minister Nitish Kumar and new BJP president Nitin Nabin were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. The NDA won all five seats in Bihar.

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Of the total 37 vacancies of Rajya Sabha, elections were held for only 11 seats in Bihar, Odisha and Haryana as the rest of the members were earlier elected unopposed. The BJP will have the maximum number of seats in the Rajya Sabha after this round of elections.

Besides Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), and Nabin, the other winning candidates were Union Minister Ram Nath Thakur (JDU) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief Upendra Kushwaha, both sitting members who have been re-elected, and BJP's Shivesh Kumar, who will enter the Upper House of Parliament for the first time.

Odisha candidates

In elections for four seats in Odisha, where a total of five candidates were in the fray, the BJP won three seats amid cross-voting. At least five MLAs - three from Congress and two from BJD - reportedly voted in favour of ruling BJP-backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray.

Among those elected were BJP state unit president Manmohan Samal and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar and opposition BJD's Santrupt Misra, besides former Union minister Dilip Ray, who was backed by the ruling party.

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BJD candidate and eminent urologist Dr Datteswar Hota, who was supported by the Congress and CPI-M, was the fifth candidate in the fray.

Returning Officer and Odisha Assembly secretary Satyabrata Rout handed over certificates to the four newly elected members.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi congratulated the BJP's poll nominees and the Independent candidate backed by the party for winning the election.

BJP, Congress win in Haryana

BJP's Sanjay Bhatia and Congress party's Karamvir Singh Boudh were elected to two Rajya Sabha seats in keenly watched elections as developments unfolded over allegations of violation of vote secrecy.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, in a late-night press conference, congratulated both the leaders on their win.

Officials said five votes were declared invalid -- four of Congress and one of the BJP.

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Saini claimed that five Congress MLAs cross-voted. Congress general secretary in charge of Haryana, B K Hariprasad, said action will be taken against the MLAs who cross-voted and have "betrayed the Congress".

Calling the elections interesting, Chief Minister Saini slammed the Congress, accusing it of holding its MLAs captive and transferring them to different places, referring to the shifting of Congress legislators to Himachal Pradesh just a few days before the Rajya Sabha poll voting. The grand old party MLAs returned from Himachal to Chandigarh on Monday morning.

The chief minister also lashed out at the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) for abstaining from voting and said it acted as a "B team" of the Congress. The INLD indirectly supported the Congress, he claimed, while adding that if they did not have to support the BJP candidate, they could have given their vote to the Independent.

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INLD, which has two members in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, abstained from voting, with party leaders Abhay Singh Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal saying they decided to make this decision keeping in view the people's sentiments.

The BJP has 48 MLAs, the Congress has 37, the INLD has two MLAs, and three legislators are Independents in the 90-member Haryana assembly.

Cross-voting in Haryana

In Haryana, where cross-voting has occurred in the past, counting for two Rajya Sabha seats was delayed after the BJP and Congress filed complaints alleging violations of vote secrecy. Although voting ended at 4 pm and counting was scheduled for 5 pm, it began only later after the poll panel gave the go-ahead, according to officials.

Members elected unopposed

Among those who were elected unopposed to the Upper House were former deputy speaker of Lok Sabha M Thambidurai of DMK and noted lawyer Abhishek Singhvi of the Congress.

In Maharashtra, all seven candidates, including six of the ruling Mahayuti alliance and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee Sharad Pawar, were elected unopposed.

In poll-bound West Bengal, ruling TMC's four candidates - Babul Supriyo, former West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, senior Supreme Court advocate Menaka Guruswamy and actor Koel Mallick were also elected unopposed, along with BJP's former state unit president Rahul Sinha.

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In Telangana, Congress candidates Abhishek Singhvi and Vem Narender Reddy were elected unopposed. In Tamil Nadu, all six candidates were elected unopposed.

AIADMK sitting MP M Thambidurai and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, along with ruling DMK candidates Tiruchi Siva and J Constantine Ravindran, were elected. Besides, Congress candidate M Christopher Tilak and DMDK treasurer L K Sudeesh were also elected unopposed.

In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidate Anurag Sharma, a close confidant of Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, was elected.

(With agency inputs)