Rajya Sabha election 2024: As the voting for the Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh is underway, sources claimed on Tuesday (February 27) that nearly 8 to 9 Congress MLAs have cross voted. The Himachal Pradesh government helicopter was sent to take Congress MLA Sudarshan Bablu admitted to the hospital in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, but till now the MLA has not reached Shimla.
The contest is between Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi and BJP's Harsh Mahajan.
In the assembly with 68 MLAs, Congress has 40 votes while BJP has 25 votes. Congress is also claiming the support of three independent MLAs. But despite BJP not having sufficient numbers, it has fielded candidates in the elections.
The BJP is expecting support from the group of MLAs who are angry with Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu. Due to this, BJP has fielded candidates in the elections despite having low numbers.
Rajya Sabha elections
Rajya Sabha elections to 56 seats from 15 states is underway. While 50 members will retire on April 2, six will do so on April 3. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are undergoing polling on Tuesday (February 27). The BJP won the highest number of 20 seats, followed by the Congress (6), Trinamool Congress (4), YSR Congress (3), RJD (2), BJD (2) and NCP, Shiv Sena, BRS and JD(U) one each. As there were no other candidates in the fray on these 41 seats, the respective returning officers declared them winners on the last date of withdrawal of nominations. The polling for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka and one seat in Himachal Pradesh is underway which will end at 4 pm and the counting will be held on the same day from 5 pm onwards.
