Rajya Sabha Elections 2018, BJP won 9 seats in UP

4:50 PM IST– Earlier in the day, JD(S) leader HD Revanna, Ramesh Babu and the party’s candidate BM Farooq have alleged the returning officer S Murthy is favouring the Congress in Karnataka Rajya Sabha polls.

4:30 PM IST– Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) has decided to boycott the Rajya Sabha election, alleging that two Congress MLAs were allowed to vote twice. The decision was taken at a legislature party meeting after three of its MLAs had already cast their vote. The JD(S) has 37 MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly but seven had turned rebel and had voted for the Congress candidate.

The Acche din of @narendramodi @BJP4India @AmitShah @sambitswaraj @BJPLive pic.twitter.com/qISBuPGJJF

— Janata Dal Secular (@jdsindia) March 23, 2018

The Acche din of @narendramodi @BJP4India @AmitShah @sambitswaraj @BJPLive pic.twitter.com/qISBuPGJJF

— Janata Dal Secular (@jdsindia) March 23, 2018

 

4:00 PM IST– The polling for Rajya Sabha Elections 2018 ends in Karnataka. 178 MLAs cast their votes. “Polling began at 9 a.m., on a steady note in the state legislature building to elect four of the five candidates in the fray for the Upper House seats,” said an election official. Five candidates, including three from the ruling Congress and one each from the opposition — Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) — are contesting for the four seats. The Congress candidates are L. Hanumanthaiah, G.C. Chandrasekhar and Syed Naseer Hussain and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate is Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is seeking a second term, as his first term as an Independent member ends on April 2. The election has been necessitated to fill the vacancies arising out of the retirement of incumbent members Basawaraj Patil, Rahman Khan and R. Ramakrishna of the Congress and Chandrasekhar. In the 225-member state legislative assembly, including one nominated, the Congress has 122 legislators, BJP 48 and JD-S 37. Of all, seven seats are vacant.

1:30 PM IST– Raja Bhaiya Announced that he will be going to vote for SP Candidate Jaya Bachchan. I am going to vote. My vote is with Akhilesh. I am not with BSP Candidate. I am with Akhilesh Yadav, which means I am not with BJP

12:58 PM IST–  the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmaker from Unnao went to the state assembly, cast his vote for the Rajya Sabha election and announced his betrayal. “I have voted for the BJP, I am with Maharaj-Ji(Yogi Adityanath),” he said, referring to Yogi Adityanath.

12:40 PM IST- In a jolt to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), its legislator Anil Singh voted for BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls.

12:30 PM IST– Yashwant Singh, who had renounced his UP Council membership from Samajwadi Party to leave the seat for CM Yogi Adityanath, may be inducted into Council of Ministers. Yashwant Singh is a confidant of Raja Bhaiyya. Raja Bhaiyya is a sitting MLA from Kunda Assembly seat in Pratapgarh district.

12:13 PM IST– Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao are among the BJP candidates guaranteed to win. The Samajwadi Party has fielded  Jaya Bachchan in the one seat it is sure to win.

11:58 AM IST– Independent MLA Amanmani Tripathi has said that he has voted for the BJP candidate, following directions from CM Yogi Adityanath

11:50 AM IST–BJP confident of clinching nine seats in Uttar Pradesh BJP leader Nitin Agarwal said that all the nine candidates of the saffron party are sure to win. “All the nine candidates of BJP will win. Samajwadi Party insulted their workers and people will answer them for choosing a candidate (Jaya Bachchan) that entertains the society rather than one who serves the society,” he said.

11:30 AM IST–

11:00 AM IST– Odisha is entirely different than UP; A candidate needs 37 MLAs to win a seat in Odisha. Naveen Patnaik party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has 118 seats in the state Assembly, which means BJD will win all three seats up for grips.

In Uttar Pradesh BSP MLA Anil Singh has said, ‘I have voted for BJP, I don’t know about the rest. Now, some other BSP MLA’s can also do cross-voting for a potential Rajya Sabha seat.