Rajya Sabha Elections Results: BJP Avenges Bypoll Defeat, Wins 9 Seats in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, Mar 23: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday won nine Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP was set to win eight out of ten Rajya Sabha seats due to its majority in the state Asse

Lucknow, Mar 23: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday won nine Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP was set to win eight out of ten Rajya Sabha seats due to its majority in the state Assembly, but it also snatched away the ninth seat from the clutches of the newly formed coalition of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

BJP’s Arun Jaitley, GVL Narasimha Rao, Anil Jain, Vijay Pal Tomar, Kanta Kardam, Anil Agarwal, Ashok Bajpai, Harnath Yadav and Sakaldeep Rajbhar have been elected to the Upper House of Parliament. Jaya Bachchan of the SP also won a Rajya Sabha seat. The BSP had nominated Bhim Rao Ambedkar for the tenth seat, who has been defeated by BJP’s Anil Agarwal.

Anil Agarwal defeated Bhim Rao Ambedkar in the counting of second preference votes. The BSP candidate got 32 votes, while the BJP nominee received 16 votes in the first round. A candidate needed 37 votes to get elected from Uttar Pradesh. Hence, the counting of second preference votes began in which Agarwal won over Ambedkar.

The victory over BSP’s Ambedkar in the high-stakes battle means the BJP has taken a revenge after losing the crucial Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats to the SP this month in by-elections in which the latter had the backing of the BSP. As quid pro quo, the SP supported the BSP in the Rajya Sabha polls. Despite SP’s backing, Mayawati’s party still fell short of the victory mark.