New Delhi: On Saturday BJP won 8 out of the 16 vacant seats of the Rajya Sabha. The Congress, along with allies in Maharashtra, bagged the remaining seven. An Independent candidate backed by the saffron party also secured one seat. Fifty-seven seats in the Upper House across 15 states will fall vacant between June 21 and August 1. However, 41 candidates in 11 states have won unopposed. This left 16 seats to be filled in the Upper House through elections.
Voting for the vacant seats of the Rajya Sabha began earlier on Friday at 9 am and ended at 4 pm. Six seats were vacant in Maharashtra, four each in Rajasthan and Karnataka and two in Haryana. The counting of votes was halted in Maharashtra and Haryana after the Congress and the BJP approached the Election Commission, alleging that protocols were violated.
However, after a late-night count, the BJP won three seats in Maharashtra, while the Congress, along with the Shiv Sena and the National Congress Party, managed to win one seat each. In Haryana, the BJP managed to win one seat, while an Independent candidate backed by the saffron party won another. In Rajasthan, the ruling Congress won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats. The BJP grabbed the last seat. In Karnataka, the BJP won all the three Rajya Sabha seats it had contested, while one went to the Congress.
