Voting begins for Pramod Mahajan's RS seat

Mumbai, Jun 15: Voting for the Rajya Sabha by-election seat which fell vacant due to the death of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, has started at 0900 hrs.

Industrialist Rahul Bajaj, who has got the support of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena and BJP, is pitted against Avinash Pande of the Congress.

The voting will continue till 1600 hrs and the counting of the votes will be held later.

The party position in the House is as follows: Congress 73, NCP 71, BJP 54, Sena 58, Ind 19, RPI(A), BRP, ABS, Swatantra Bharat Party one each, CPI(M) 3, PWP 2, JSS four and one nominated.

With the NCP supporting Mr Bajaj, tension has erupted between the NCP and its ally Congress.

The Congress has accused Mr Bajaj of being the anti-dalit, for his opposition to the reservation, while a similar charge has been levelled by the NCP against the Congress candidate, accusing him of beating a Dalit officer in Nagpur.

UNI