RS Polls - Polling underway with shadow of cross-voting in 3 states
Since the start of the annual rajya sabha elections on Tuesday, 41 candidates have successfully defended their seats in the Upper house against no opposition. This means that seats in Uttar Pradesh, karnataka, and himachal pradesh are still up for grabs.
Ten rajya sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, four in karnataka, and one in himachal pradesh are up for election. Polling takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with counting commencing at 5 p.m. Notably, parties closely monitor their MLAs, casting a shadow on cross-voting. Although the results will be formally declared on february 27, 41 members of the rajya sabha essentially secured their seats in the Upper house out of the 56 seats up for election on Tuesday.
Ten rajya sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, four in karnataka, and one in himachal pradesh are up for election. Polling takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with counting commencing at 5 p.m. Notably, parties closely monitor their MLAs, casting a shadow on cross-voting. Although the results will be formally declared on february 27, 41 members of the rajya sabha essentially secured their seats in the Upper house out of the 56 seats up for election on Tuesday.
• For the ten rajya sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the opposition Samajwadi party has filed three candidates, while the bjp has fielded eight. Without opposition, the bjp and the SP have enough members in the rajya sabha to send seven and three MPs, respectively. In Uttar Pradesh, a candidate requires around 37 first preference votes to be elected to the Rajya Sabha.
• Ahead of the biennial poll, the ruling congress in karnataka moved all of its MLAs to a hotel in order to fill four vacancies. There are five candidates running: Kupendra reddy (JD(S)), Narayansa Bandage (BJP), ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain, and G C chandrasekhar (all Congress). Fearing cross-voting, all parties have sent whips to the MLAs, who will cast ballots in Tuesday's election.
• In a similar vein, the congress in himachal pradesh has allegedly used pressure to force all of its MLAs to support party candidate abhishek Manu Singhvi, after issuing a whip to all of them. Legislators, according to the bjp, were chosen democratically and are free to cast any kind of ballot they like. With 40 out of 68 MLAs and the backing of three independent MLAs, the congress enjoys a resounding majority in the himachal pradesh rajya sabha elections.