M A I N   N E W S

BJP wins 8 RS seats
Cross-voting in HP, other states

NEW DELHI, March 29 (UNI, PTI) The Union Surface Transport Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh, and former Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj and Janeswar Misra were among the 29 candidates today elected to the Rajya Sabha in the biennial elections held in eight states.

The BJP won eight seats, the Congress six, the Left Front in West Bengal four, the Samajwadi Party three, the Biju Janata Dal two and the National Conference, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Loktantrik Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party one each. Two independents supported by the BJP the Trinamool Congress won in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The BJP-led ruling alliance won seven seats, including five of the BJP, in Uttar Pradesh while the SP got three and the BSP one. The BJP got one seat each in Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and Karnataka.

There were 41 candidates in the fray for the 29 seats.

In Rajasthan, Congress candidates industrialist Mr R.P. Goenka, Mr Moolchand Meena and Mr Jamuna Barupal were elected from the three seats in the state.

BJP-HVC nominee Kripal Parmar was declared elected to the Rajya Sabha election to fill the lone seat from Himachal Pradesh today.

The Congress, however, suffered a shock defeat of its candidate from West Bengal and cross-voting from its ranks in some other states.

A surprise winner in the elections to 11 seats from Uttar Pradesh was media personality and Loktantrik Congress candidate Rajiv Shukla, who got 30 votes more than LCP’s strength of 20 indicating cross-voting from various parties, including the Congress.

The other winners were senior journalist Rajiv Shukla (Loktantrik Congress), Mr Ramnath Kovid, Mr Balvir Punj and Mr Ram Bux Sharma (all BJP), former MP Sakshi Maharaj and Dara Singh (both SP), Mr Ghanshyam Kherwar (BSP) and BJP ally Jantantrik BSP-backed Independent M.M. Agarwal.

A notable defeat was that of well-known liquor baron Vijay Mallaya, who contested from Karnataka with support from JD (U) despite the presence of its ally’s candidate M. Rajsekhara Murthy of the BJP who won.

In West Bengal, TC-backed Independent Jayanta Bhattacharya sprang a big surprise pipping Congress nominee D.P. Roy in an election that saw cross-voting by at east 25 Congress MLAs.

All four ruling Left Front candidates — three CPI (M) and one RSP — were elected. Mr Dipankar Mukherjee, Mr Biplab Dasgupta and Mr Nilotpal Basu (all CPI-M) were re-elected.

A sizeable number of Congress votes appeared to have gone to Mr Bhattacharya as four candidates of the Left Front, all sitting MPs, won from the state.

Cross-voting in the Congress was witnessed even in Karnataka where all its three official candidates won. Still the party did not get all 151 votes it claimed it had in its bag resulting in the independent candidate Mallaya securing 35 votes and BJP candidate Rajsekhara Murthy getting 46 votes, two more than his party’s strength.

In Orissa, BJD candidates Mr Biravadra Singh and Mr Baijayant Panda and BJP state unit president Mr Manmohan Samal were elected from the three seats in the state.

In Bihar where a byelection was held, the RJD-backed independent Buddhist candidate Dhamma Virio won defeating NDA backed Congress rebel Rajni Ranjan Sahu, who was expelled from the Congress earlier in the day.

SHIMLA (TNS): The HP Congress received a jolt when three of its legislators voted in favour of the ruling BJP-HVC coalition nominee, Mr Kripal Parmar, who was declared elected for the Rajya Sabha seat for which election was held here today.

Mr Parmar polled 43 votes against the combined strength of 39 of the coalition, besides the Speaker, Thakur Gulab Singh.

The Congress candidate, Mr Thakur Singh Bharmourie, got 24 votes against the party’s strength of 27. A unseated MLA, Mr Tek Chand lost his voting right although he was allowed to continue as a member.

The cross-voting has once again exposed sharp groupism within the party. It is being alleged that three legislators voted for the BJP nominee to embarrass the CLP leader and former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadara Singh.

JAMMU: National Conference’s Mirza Abdul Rashid has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Rashid polled 59 votes while his only rival Vidya Sagar (Ind) got 11 votes, an official spokesman said, adding four votes were declared invalid.

Eleven MLAs, including six from the Congress and two from the PDP, did not participate in the voting, the spokesman said.