BJP-supported Independent Candidate, Subhash Chandra, a media baron and founder chairman of Zee TV, has lost the Rajya Sabha biennial elections the result of which was announced by the Election Commission (EC) on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Congress won three out of four Rajya Sabha seats as its outside candidates, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik, and Pramod Tiwari, were declared elected with the first preference votes.
Opposition BJP candidate, Ghanshyam Tiwari, six-time Rajasthan MLA, strong RSS leader, and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s crucial rebel (however, both had a handshake when the party made Tiwari its official candidate), also voted to power.
BJP’s Dholpur MLA Shobharani Kushwaha voted indulged in cross-voting in favour of the Congress party, R S Rathore, deputy leader in the assembly, told the media during the voting process. Mrs. Kushwaha, whose husband was once BSP MLA from the Dholpur assembly constituency and is presently in the prison since former CM Raje’s tenure, was probably annoyed with the party as no attempts were made to bring his husband out of the jail.
The ruling Congress, having a majority of 109 legislators, got the votes of two each of the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) and CPIM, and 13 Independents.
The four seats will fall vacant when BJP’s four sitting RS MPs, Om Prakash Mathur, K J Alphons, Ramkumar, and Harshvardhan Singh Dungarpur, will retire from the RS on July 4.
Gehlot greeted all three winners.