Congress suffers another 'coup' in Himachal; BJP-JDS move falters in Karnataka

BENGALURU: All three Congress candidates won the elections to the four Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka. The BJP-JDS alliance, which was expected to win two seats, shrunk to just one in one major shock.

Three Congress candidates namely Ajay Maken, Dr. Syed Nasir Hussain GC Chandrasekhar and Narayana Sa Bandage of the BJP-JDS alliance won while NDA candidate D Kupendra Reddy from JDS lost.

Two BJP MLAs voted in favour of the Congress in the polls, which caught the saffron party unaware. Yeshwanthapura MLA ST Somashekhar cross-voted for Congress. BJP MLA Arbail Shivaram Hebbar did not come to the Assembly to vote. Each candidate needed 45 votes to win.

Ajay Maken and Dr Syed Nazir Hussain secured 47 votes each. Narayana Sa Bandage also managed to get 47 votes. The Karnataka assembly witnessed scenes of ruckus while the voting was ongoing. BJP-Congress leaders pushed each other resulting in tempers flaring.

Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, Abhishek Singhvi of Congress who was certain to reach the Rajya Sabha suffered a shock defeat after six Congress MLAs and three independent MLAs cross-voted for BJP’s Harsh Mahajan.

It was a stalemate in Himachal as both Singhvi and Harsh received 34 votes each. Then the winner was announced through a draw. Nine people who cross-voted were shifted to Haryana by the BJP under the security of CRPF officials.