Congress wins three of four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan; counting delayed in Maharashtra, Haryana

The ruling Congress on Friday won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan, overcoming the challenge posed by BJP-backed independent candidate Subhash Chandra, according to the party. The BJP got the fourth seat.

Congress candidates Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari were elected to the Rajya Sabha, according to a tweet by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

BJP candidate and former minister Ghanshyam Tiwari said he had also won, polling 43 votes.

"Congress's victory on three Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan is a victory of democracy. I congratulate all the three newly elected MPs Shri Pramod Tiwari, Shri Mukul Wasnik and Shri Randeep Surjewala. I am sure that all the three MPs will be able to strongly advocate the rights of Rajasthan in Delhi," Gehlot tweeted.

Speaking to reporters, Tiwari said, "I am thankful to the state and the central leadership for making me the candidate. I got 43 votes."

The statements came before the official announcement of the results.

All 200 Rajasthan MLAs had cast their votes for the Rajya Sabha elections by Friday afternoon.

In the House, the Congress has 108 MLAs, BJP 71, Independents 13, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, and the CPI(M) and the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) two each.

Meanwhile, the counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.

The counting was held up in Maharashtra after opposition BJP alleged that three MLAs of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) -- Cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad (NCP) and Yashomati Thakur (Congress), besides Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande -- violated the model code for voting.

"We have filed an appeal before the Election Commission of India, seeking that their votes be held invalid," said a state BJP leader.

The BJP has alleged that Awhad and Thakur handed over their ballots to their party agents instead of only showing them the ballots, while Kande showed his ballot to two different agents.

The counting has been put on hold in Haryana for identical reasons.

The BJP and the Independent candidate backed by it have urged the Election Commission to cancel the votes of two Congress MLAs.

BJP nominee Krishan Lal Panwar and Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma shot off a missive to the EC, alleging Congress MLAs Kiran Choudhary and B B Batra showed their ballot papers to unauthorised persons after marking them and that the episodes were "duly captured" on cameras.

The counting has been put on hold in view of the complaint made to the Election Commission, sources said in Chandigarh, adding further action will depend on the directions given by the poll panel.

"Permission is needed from the Election Commission for the counting. Officials have sent an email to the ECI seeking the permission. It should be granted in some time," said Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai.

"Counting cannot be started until the ECI gives its decision because winning quota cannot be determined till the number of valid votes is finalised," said a Constitution expert.

The Congress has, meanwhile, approached the Election Commission in New Delhi accusing the BJP of trying to defeat the process of free and fair election to the Rajya Sabha in Haryana and demanded immediate declaration of results.

A delegation of Congress leaders comprising Pawan Kumar Bansal, Vivek Tankha and Ranjeet Ranjan met the Election Commission and handed over a memorandum by Ajay Maken, its candidate.

Maken urged Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar to order declaration of the results without delay after rejecting the "frivolous" objection by the BJP over alleged violation of the secrecy of the ballot.

The Congress candidate claimed the returning officer has already rejected the objections about the votes of its MLAs Kiran Choudhary and B B Batra, saying there has been no breach of secrecy of the ballot papers.

Polling was held on Friday for 16 Rajya Sabha seats -- six in Maharashtra, four each in Karnataka and Rajasthan and two in Haryana.

In Karnataka, BJP's Nirmala Sitharaman, Jaggesh and Lehar Singh Siroya won while Jairam Ramesh of Congress scored a victory.