Rajya Sabha elections 2018 Updates: BJP bags 9 seats in UP, Congress wins big in Karnataka
Counting of votes for Rajya Sabha election will begin from 5 pm onwards on March 23, 2018. Results are expected to will be announced the same evening.
The voting for 58 vacant seats in the Rajya Sabha began at 9 am. Of the 58 seats in the Upper House to be filled, 33 candidates from 10 states have been unanimously elected. Voting for the remaining 25 seats is underway in six states. Counting of votes for Rajya Sabha election will begin from 5 pm onwards. Results are expected to be announced the same evening.
The most-watched state would be Uttar Pradesh where the BJP has fielded 9 candidates while the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party one each. To ensure a win from UP, each candidate would need to get 37 preference votes. With the BJP and allies having 324 MLAs in the UP Legislative Assembly, the BJP will have no problem in sending 8 of its candidates to the Upper House of Parliament. While the elections in Uttar Pradesh are being watched closely, contests are on in six other states as well; West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Telangana.
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After electing 8 candidates, the BJP would still have 28 surplus votes. This would mean the BJP would need an additional 9 votes to ensure that its 9th candidate is elected to the Rajya Sabha. The BJP would count on the votes of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party which has four MLAs. The BJP can also bank on Naresh Agarwal's son, Nitin Agarwal's vote which would take the tally up to five.
Rajya Sabha seats due to fall vacant next month are from 16 states.For the 58 Rajya Sabha seats to be filled, 33 candidates from 10 states have been unanimously elected.
Rajya Sabha elections 2018 Live updates:
It is upto the Election Commission of India to ensure free and fair #RajyaSabhaElections specially in Uttar Pradesh. We know money power is used to take away SP MLAs & muscle power to keep Mukhtar Ansari on jail. Shame is the #rajyasabhaelection is biased #RajyaSabhaElection
— Tehseen Poonawalla (@tehseenp) March 23, 2018
Voting underway at #Kerala Legislative Assembly in Thiruvananthapuram for one #RajyaSabha seat from the state pic.twitter.com/eMVXwQLJ5i
— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2018
Lucknow: New twist in UP Rajya Sabha Elections, BSP MLA Anil Singh announces to cast his vote in favour of BJP. #RajyaSabhaElections #RajyaSabha #BSP #BJP pic.twitter.com/AoxG2KhtyE
— Dynamite News (@DynamiteNews_) March 23, 2018
Bengaluru: CM Siddaramaiah & Congress MLAs met at Vidhan Soudha. (Earlier Visuals) #RajyaSabhaElections #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/upy3rHacjZ
— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2018
Kolkata: MLAs queue up at the state assembly to cast their votes for #RajyaSabhaElections, 5 seats are being contested from West Bengal. pic.twitter.com/ODHVpYYHPW
— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2018