BJP wins Rajya Sabha race in Maharashtra and Haryana
The BJP clinched victories in three of the four states where a close contest for the 16 Rajya Sabha seats saw cross-voting and alleged breach of election rules.
The Congress retained three seats in Rajasthan, but suffered setback in Haryana.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, and former state minister Anil Bonde, and Dhananjay Mahadik were among the BJP candidates elected to the Upper House from four states.
The Congress managed to send Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh to the Rajya Sabha, but the grand old party’s Ajay Maken, a former union minister, lost.
In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena’s ubiquitous face Sanjay Raut, Praful Patel from Sharad Pawar’s NCP, and Congress’ Imran Pratapgarhi won the fiercely-fought elections amid stiff challenge from the main opposition BJP, which won three of the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state.
“Elections are contested not just for the fight, but the victory. Jai Maharashtra,” tweeted BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, the leader of the opposition whose refusal to have consensus candidates for the Rajya Sabha forced elections in the state for the Upper House of Parliament after 24 years.