Rajya Sabha Election 2020 : BJP wins 8 seats, NDA moves closer to Majority in Upper House
Rajya Sabha Election 2020 : On Friday election to the 19 Rajya Sabha seats in 8 states were held. Amid COVID19, this was the first political activity that was held in the country. Elections were held in states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya. BJP won 8 seats while Congress could manage only 4 seats. Four seats were won by Jagan Reddy’s YSRCP, 1 seat by JMM in Jharkhand, 1 by Conrad Sangma’s NPP in Meghalaya and 1 by MNF in Mizoram.
Here is what happened in the Rajya Sabha election 2020 Statewise
Rajasthan
Rajasthan was the only state where Congress had upper hand over BJP. Here ruling Congress won 2 of the 3 vacant Rajya Sabha seats from state while BJP won only 1 seat. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal and leader Neeraj Dangi were elected from Congress quota while Rajendra Gehlot was elected from BJP’s quota. It must be remembered that both BJP and Congress had their MLAs shifted to resorts before the Rajya Election. Both accused each other of horse-trading of MLAs.
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Gujarat
In Gujarat, 4 seats were up for grab. BJP had numbers for 2 seats while Congress had number for only 1 seat after many of its sitting MLAs resigned and joined BJP. However, Congress would have easily won the 4th seat too with the help of its allies NCP which has 1 seat in Gujarat assembly and Bhartiya Tribal Party which has 2 seats. To a shock for Congress, BTP abstained from voting and what came as biggest surprise was lone NCP MLA voting in favour of BJP. Congress’ Shaktisinh Gohil won while Bharatsinh Solanki lost. BJP won 3 out of 4 Rajya Sabha seats from state. Abhay Bhardwaj, Narhari Amin and Ramila Bara got elected to Upper House from BJP’s ticket.
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh was one more state where Congress again failed to manage its allies. BSP, SP and Independents all voted in favour BJP in state. Digvijay Singh the only leader who got elected to Rajya Sabha from Congress’ ticket, while for BJP former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and senior BJP leader Sumer Singh Solanki got elected to Upper House of Indian Parliament. BJP accused Congress of sacrificing a dalit leader Phool Singh Baraiya for Digvijay Singh.
Jharkhand
In Jharkhand 2 seats were up for grabs in the state. With UPA having 49 seats they easily won 1 seat. JMM’s chief Sibu Soren got elected to Rajya Sabha. On second seat BJP’s Deepak Prakash was elected to Upper House.
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh where four seats were vacant for Rajya Sabha Election 2020 had no political twists. Ruling YSRCP had enough numbers to grab all 4 seats from the state. Jagan Reddy’s YSRCP’s all 4 candidates got elected to Rajya Sabha from state.
Mizoram and Meghalaya
Each seat each were vacant from Mizoram and Meghalaya. In Mizoram, ruling MNF’s K Vanlalvena was declared winner. It must however be remembered, there was a three-corner fight in Mizoram for 1 vacant seat. Along with MNF, Congress and ZPF had their candidates placed for the contest. BJP which has 1 MLA in Mizoram Assembly and which is an ally of ruling MNF abstained from voting.
In Meghalaya, ruling NPP’s Dr WR Kharlukhi won the lone seat by defeating Congress’s Khyriem. Dr Kharlukhi got 39 votes while Khyriem got 19 votes in their favour.
Manipur
One lone seat from Manipur turned out to be a mother of all the battles of Rajya Sabha election 2020. 9 MLA’s favouring BJP withdrew support recently. The MLAs included 3 BJP MLAs who resigned to join Congress, 4 NPP MLAs and 1 each from TMC and independent MLA withdrew their support from the government making the ruling BJP government in state a minority one. However, pulled out a surprise win in the state. Governor of Mizoram allowed the 3 Congress MLAs who were barred by Manipur High Court from entering assembly. Congress had earlier met Governor to move no-confidence motion against the ruling BJP government. In Rajya Sabha election in Manipur, BJP got 29 votes while Congress got 24 votes.
Outcome
After yesterday’s (19th June) Rajya Sabha Election, BJP now has total 85 MPs in Upper House and Congress has 40 MPs. NDA now has total 116 MPs 7 short of majority. In November BJP is expected to gain 7 more seats from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand which will take their tally to 92 MPs in Rajya Sabha and NDA to full majority to 123 MPs. Congress is expected to lose 2 seats taking its tally to historic low of 38 MPs in Rajya Sabha.
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