Prior to the assembly elections in September 2022, Mahajan, a former minister and three-time Congress MLA left the party and joined the BJP.
Digital Desk: Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Tuesday faced a shock defeat in the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh against the BJP's Harsh Mahajan. With 40 of the 68 MLAs plus the backing of three independent MLAs, the Congress has a definite majority; nonetheless, the defeat still occurs. Despite having fewer MLAs than Singhvi, the BJP nonetheless managed to force a race by fielding Mahajan against him despite its disadvantage in terms of numbers.
With the vote count knotted at 34, the BJP's Harsh Mahajan emerged victorious via lottery, according to sources.
Prior to the assembly elections in September 2022, Mahajan, a former minister and three-time Congress MLA left the party and joined the BJP.
Himachal Pradesh LoP Jairam Thakur said, "Despite having such a huge majority, Congress lost the Rajya Sabha seat...I congratulate Harsh Mahajan once again..."
Tuesday's polling for the one Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh came to an end at 9 a.m., with Congress MLA Sudershan Babloo of Chintpurni casting the deciding vote, according to news agency PTI. He was apparently ill and had to be carried via helicopter to the Assembly grounds to cast his ballot. Every member—68—has cast a vote. Ashish, an independent MLA from Hamirpur, was the first to cast his ballot, starting the election process.
The Congress Whip instructed MLAs to vote for Singhvi, BJP's Complaint To ECI
The BJP criticized the Congress for earlier whipping its MLAs to vote for Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The BJP accused the ruling Congress of using the whip to intimidate its members, arguing that MLAs ought to be allowed to cast any ballot they wish as they were democratically elected.
The BJP candidate, Harsh Mahajan, lodged a complaint with the chief election commissioner, highlighting the three-line whip issued by the Congress. Mahajan argued that such a directive is not only unethical but also undermines the integrity of Rajya Sabha elections, potentially impairing the decision-making autonomy of the MLAs.
Following the voting, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu affirmed that the MLAs' votes were in line with the party's platform and expressed confidence in his party's position. Sukhu was cited by PTI as saying, "We have 40 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha and we will get all the votes unless MLAs are bought off."
Remarkably, opposition leader Jai Ram Thakur had previously stated that MLAs had a democratic right to vote and that the candidate did not need to win without any opposition, according to PTI.
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