The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections took place in four states. Voting was held on Friday for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka amid allegations of malpractice and horse-trading.
Results were declared in Karnataka and Rajasthan on Friday night, but were delayed amid a heated argument between rival parties over alleged violation of voting rules in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The Election Commission approved the counting of votes after going through the detailed reports submitted by the returning officers including video footage.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Congress’s Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut are among 16 candidates who have been elected to the Rajya Sabha from the four states where voting was held on Friday.
The ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in Maharashtra suffered a setback when the main opposition BJP won three of the state’s six Rajya Sabha seats, the results of which were declared early on Saturday.
The BJP winners include Union Minister Piyush Goyal, former state ministers Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik. Shiv Sena’s omnipresent face Sanjay Raut, NCP’s Praful Patel, former Union minister and Congress’s Imran Pratapgarhi also fought fiercely.
Former BJP MP Dhananjay Mahadik defeated Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Pawar in the sixth seat.
In Rajasthan, the Congress has won three seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has got one. BJP-backed Independent candidate and media baron Subhash Chandra, whose entry in the fray had added spice to the electoral tussle, got out of the way. Congress candidates Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari were declared elected, and so did Ghanshyam Tiwari of the BJP.
In Karnataka, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh, BJP’s Lahar Singh Siroya and former Congress Union minister Jairam Ramesh were declared elected.
In a major setback to the Congress in Haryana, BJP’s Krishan Lal Panwar and saffron party-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma won two seats, while former union minister Ajay Maken of the old party lost.
Here are the winners and losers:
| candidate’s name | Winner/Loser Candidate | Celebration |
|---|---|---|
| Mukul Wasniki | won | Congress |
| Randeep Surjewala | won | Congress |
| Pramod Tiwari | won | Congress |
| Ghanshyam Tiwari | won | BJP |
| Subhash Chandra | Lost | independent |
Karnataka
| candidate’s name | Winner/Loser Candidate | Celebration |
|---|---|---|
| Nirmala Sitharaman | won | BJP |
| Jaggesho | won | BJP |
| Lehar Singh | won | BJP |
| JaiRam Ramesh | won | Congress |
| Mansoor Ali Khan | Lost | Congress |
| D Kupendra Reddy | Lost | JD(S) |
Maharashtra
| candidate’s name | Winner/Loser Candidate | Celebration |
|---|---|---|
| Piyush Goyal | won | BJP |
| Anil Bonde | won | BJP |
| Dhananjay Mahadikki | won | BJP |
| Praful Patel | won | NCP |
| Sanjay Raut | won | Shiv Sena |
| Sanjay Pawar | Lost | Shiv Sena |
| Imran Pratapgarhi | won | Congress |
Haryana
| candidate’s name | Winner/Loser Candidate | Celebration |
|---|---|---|
| Kartikeya Sharma | won | independent |
| Ajay Makeni | Lost | Congress |
| Krishna Lal Panwar | won | BJP |