Rajya Sabha Elections 2018 Results: BJP Wins 9 Seats in Uttar Pradesh, BSP’s BR Ambedkar Loses

Catch live updates on Rajya Sabha election results here.

New Delhi, Mar 23: The results of Rajya Sabha elections 2018 will be declared today. Polling for 26 Rajya Sabha seats in six states – Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana – was held today. Of the 59 seats that fell vacant, on 33 candidates from 10 states were declared elected unopposed on March 15. An interesting contest is being seen in Uttar Pradesh where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have locked horns on one of the 10 seats. Catch live updates on Rajya Sabha election results here.

Of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is set to win eight as it has 311 MLAs in the 403-member Assembly. A candidate needs the votes of 37 MLAs to go to the Upper House from the state. The Samajwadi Party (SP), which has 47 MLAs is most likely to bag one seat. Stakes are high for the BSP which is counting each vote to get its lone candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar elected to the Upper House of Parliament. Mayawati’s party has support from 10 MLAs of the SP and seven of the Congress. Independent MLA from Kundla, Raghuraj Pratap Singh, popularly known as Raja Bhaiyya, also voted for the newly formed SP-BSP alliance.

However, the cross-voting and Allahabad High Court’s order barring one SP and BSP MLA from voting give an edge to the BJP over Mayawati’s party. In a jolt to Mayawati, BSP legislator Anil Singh voted for BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls. Nitin Agarwal, the Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator from Hardoi, also voted for the BJP. His father Naresh Agarwal joined the BJP earlier this month. Prominent candidates in the fray are Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Jaya Bachchan, Ashok Bajpai, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, Sakal Deep Rajbhar, Kanta Kardam, Anil Jain, Harnath Singh Yadav, GVL Narasimha Rao and Anil Kumar Agarwal.

Altogether six candidates, including Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi, are in the fray for the five Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal. Singhvi has the support of the ruling TMC. Five candidates are in the electoral arena in Karnataka for four seats. The state’s ruling Congress has fielded three nominees, while there are one each of the BJP and JD(S). Elections were also held for two seats in Jharkhand where three candidates are in the fray, including two of the state’s ruling BJP and one of the Congress.

One candidate each of the ruling BJP and main opposition Congress are in the fray for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Chhattisgarh. Four candidates will try their luck from Telangana where polling will be held for three seats. Stay connected with us to get live updates on Rajya Sabha election results.