Congress wards off saffron challenge in Rajasthan

Mumbai/Chandigarh: In a jolt to the opposition camp, the BJP bagged an extra seat each in a nail biting finish in Maharashtra, Haryana and Karnataka including the one won by an Independent it backed to put up a better than expected showing in the Rajya Sabha polls even as the ruling Congress in Rajasthan warded off the saffron challenge.

While the BJP won half of the 16 seats for which polling was held in four states on Friday amid a tussle over cross-voting, the Congress bagged five(3 in Rajasthan, one each in Maharashtra and Karnataka) and its allies in Maharashtra – the Shiv Sena and the NCP one each, according to the final results announced on Saturday.

The BJP got three seats each in Maharashtra and Karnataka and one each in Haryana and Rajasthan. As the elections again highlighted dissension and lack of cohesion in the opposition ranks from Maharashtra to Karnataka and Haryana, BJP-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, a media baron, won one of the two seats in Haryana defeating senior Congress leader Ajay Maken.

The former union minister lost by just two-third of one vote. As rival parties analysed the outcome of the polls ahead of the Presidential elections, Rajasthan’s BJP legislator Shobharani Khushwaha, Congress’s Haryana MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi and JD(S) lawmaker from Karnataka Srinivas Gowda disturbed the calculations of their respective parties by cross-voting.

Cracking the whip, the Congress expelled Bishnoi from all party positions after it alleged that he did not vote for the party candidate Ajay Maken and cross-voted in favour of Kartikeya Sharma, who was supported by the ruling BJP-JJP combine. Bishnoi, in a cryptic tweet in Hindi earlier in the day, said, “I know how to crush a snake’s hood. I do not leave the jungle in fear of snakes.” Khushwaha, who voted for Congress nominee Pramod Tiwari, has been suspended by the BJP, pending an inquiry.

The Rajya Sabha polls for 57 seats were held across 15 states. While 41 members in 11 states were elected unopposed, elections were held for16 seats in four states due to the presence of more contestants than the available vacancies in each of these states. The results were declared in Karnataka and Rajasthan on Friday night but got delayed by several hours in Maharashtra and Haryana amid intense wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.

The results for Maharashtra and Haryana were announced early Saturday morning as the numbers game came under intense watch by rival parties in a cliffhanger election in the two states. Maharashtra’s ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress faced a major setback with the opposition BJP, whose move of fielding a candidate for the sixth seat necessitated a contest after over two decades, registering an emphatic win. –PTI