The voting for the Rajya Sabha elections was held on 19 June 2020 in 19 seats in 8 states. BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijay Singh, and Shibu Soren are some of the personalities who won the race for the Rajya Sabha seats. A high-voltage drama was seen in Manipur and Gujarat at the same time that led to the delay in counting of votes. BJP succeeded in bagging three seats in Gujarat while Congress won only one seat.
The EC had announced Rajya Sabha elections for 61 seats, 55 of which were scheduled to be held on March 26 but delayed due to the pandemic. 42 of the these had been won unopposed, and the elections for the remaining 19 seats took place this week after relaxations in lockdown norms.
Of the 19 seats that went to poll, BJP won 8 seats, Congress and YSR Congress won 4 each and the rest 3 went to others. The BJP has won two seats in Madhya Pradesh, one each in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Manipur while Congress succeeded in gaining two seats in Rajasthan and one in Madhya Pradesh.
In the total 61 seats, BJP won 17, Congress won 9, JDU 3, BJD and the TMC 4 each, AIADMK and DMK 3 each, NCP, RJD and the TRS 2 each, and others won the rest.
The Congress in Rajasthan won two out of three Rajya Sabha seats. KC Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi were declared elected, BJP’s Rajendra Gehlot won comfortably while Onkar Singh Lakhawat couldn’t get to a Rajya Sabha seat. With this, the total number of Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP is 7 now and Congress has increased its strength to 3 in Rajasthan.
The National Democratic Alliance led by BJP had 90 members in the Upper house of Parliament, and now it has increased to 101 in the 245 members upper house. The majority mark in the upper house in 123. For the first time, the number of NDA members have crossed 100 in the upper house.
Now the Bharatiya Janata Party alone has 86 seats in the house while the Congress has 41 seats. As the NDA govt has received from other parties like AIADMK, BJD, YSR Congress in several bills in Rajya Sabha, the govt should be in a more comfortable position in the upper to get legislations passed.
The voting for the Rajya Sabha seats was held amid all the precautionary measures in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. Two legislators from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively went to vote in PPE gear. Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Kunal Chaudhary came in a PPE suit to vote as he has tested positive for Coronavirus. In Rajasthan, Congress MLA Wajib Ali came wearing PPE kit as he had returned to India a day before and is under quarantine as per guidelines.
