Rajya Sabha polls: Prime Minister Modi's BJP wins big, major upset for Congress

It was a close contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition led by Congress for the 16 Rajya Sabha seats (India’s Upper House in parliament) across Indian states.

In some states, BJP won the elections comfortably, while the Congress and other opposition parties gave a tough fight in other states. There were also complaints of rules violation and cross-voting.

The victory is significant for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party ahead of the Presidential elections, where members of both Lok Sabha (Lower House) and Rajya Sabha vote.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The latest electoral victory is expected to help the BJP's nominee for Indian president (yet to be declared)sail through without any problems, since the ruling party commands a majority in Lok Sabha and now in Rajya Sabha as well.

The polls took place in four states—Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana.

The BJP won 3 seats out of 6 in Maharashtra, and 3 out of 4 in Karnataka. In Haryana, the BJP won 1 seat, while an Independent candidate backed by the saffron party won the other out of 2 seats.

The Congress posted a big win in Rajasthan, winning all the 4 seats, while gaining 1 each in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

In Maharashtra, the ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance suffered a jolt as the main opposition BJP won three of the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state, the results of which were announced early Saturday.

The BJP winners include Union minister Piyush Goyal, former state minister Anil Bonde, and Dhananjay Mahadik.

Shiv Sena's ubiquitous face Sanjay Raut, NCP's Praful Patel, a former union minister, and Congress' Imran Pratapgarhi also won the fiercely-fought elections.

Former MP Dhananjay Mahadik of the BJP defeated Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar for the sixth seat.

The Congress suffered a major setback in Haryana where BJP's Krishan Lal Panwar and the saffron party-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma won the two seats, while the grand old party's Ajay Maken, a former union minister, lost.

Returning Officer R K Nandal said Panwar got 36 votes, while Sharma got 23 first preference votes and 6.6 votes transferred by the BJP, taking his tally to 29.6. It was a photo-finish as Maken got 29 votes, but lost on account of having failed to secure any second preference votes.

The main opposition Congress managed to win only one of the two seats for which its nominees were in the fray, while the JD(S) drew a blank.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh, and MLC Lehar Singh Siroya of the BJP, and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh of the Congress were declared victorious.

Sitharaman and Ramesh have been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

There was suspense over the outcome of the fight for the fourth seat, which witnessed a tight contest between all the three major political parties none of which had enough votes for an easy win.

However, BJP's Siroya triumphed over Mansoor Ali Khan of the Congress and D Kupendra Reddy (JDS), apparently aided by cross-voting from rival parties and the help of Independents.

In Rajasthan, the ruling Congress won three of the four seats and the BJP one.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE