The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday won eight of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party managed to win just two of the three seats it contested.
Reacting to the victory of all the eight BJP candidates, Uttar Pradesh deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya thanked those who voted in favour of the their candidates and said that “Vijay Yatra” will continue in the Lok Sabha elections as well.
“We had been saying from the beginning that all 8 candidates of the BJP will win. All our 8 candidates have won today. I congratulate all the winning candidates. I thank the people due to whose votes they won. Two SP candidates have also won. So, congratulations to Akhilesh Yadav too…BJP’s vijay yatra that began in Rajya Sabha will continue in Lok Sabha and then go on till Vidhan Sabha elections and even further…,” Maurya said.
Seven members of the Samajwadi Party cross-voted in favour of the BJP and vote of one SP MLA was deemed invalid, resulting in the victory of 8th BJP candidate.
After eight SP MLAs skipped a crucial meetings ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, Akhilesh Yadav said that the third seat was actually a test to identify those who were not with the party.
“Our third seat in the Rajya Sabha was actually a test to identify the true comrades and to know who was with the PDA at heart and who was against the backward classes, Dalits and minorities by conscience. Now everything is clear, this is the victory of the third seat,” the SP chief said.