Rajya Sabha election today: Suspense in UP, Karnataka over cross-voting. Updates

Voting for 15 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh is taking place on Tuesday, February 27, amid concerns about cross-voting by the Congress and Samajwadi Party MLAs. Forty-one of the 56 Rajya Sabha candidates have already been elected unopposed, leaving the three states to witness heated contests between the BJP and the INDIA bloc.
The list of 41 unopposed elected Rajya Sabha MPs includes former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Ashok Chavan, and union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan.
The voting for the remaining seats – 10 in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka, and one in Himachal Pradesh – began at 9am in the Upper House of the Parliament and the results will be announced later in the evening. Notably, the term for Rajya Sabha MPs is six years and the elections are held after every two years for 33 per cent of the seats. Currently, the Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members.
In Uttar Pradesh, a high-pitched electoral battle will be witnessed between the BJP and SP. While the BJP has fielded eight candidates, the SP has fielded three candidates. According to numbers in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP is slated to win seven seats and the SP is likely to win all three. However, there are concerns that several MLAs may cross-vote, especially after some of the SP legislators went missing from a dinner hosted by party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday.
To be elected to the Rajya Sabha from UP, a candidate would need nearly 37 first-preference votes. Currently, BJP has 252 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, while SP has 108 MLAs along with Congress’ two seats. BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 seats, NISHAD Party has six seats, RLD has nine seats, SBSP has six seats, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik has two seats, and BSP has one seat.
While the BJP alliance and SP-Congress alliance were negotiating with other parties to gather support for their candidates, the BJP gained the upper hand as Jansatta Dal Loktantrik vowed to extend its support to the saffron party.
Now, the SP needs 111 MLAs to see all three of its candidates winning. Amid how the numbers are stacking up, the SP is fearing that the BJP has put pressure on its MLAs to cross-vote.
Karnataka is witnessing a political battle between the Congress and BJP on four Rajya Sabha seats today. The four seats fell vacant following the retirement of four members – union ministers Rajeev Chandrasekhar from the BJP and G C Chandrashekhar, and Syed Naseer Hussain, L Hanumanthaiah from the Congress.
Notably, the Congress has 133 MLAs, the BJP has 66, JD (S) 19, while others (independents) account for four in the Karnataka legislative assembly. According to reports, Congress has the support of three independent MLAs, along with the support of some MLAs from the JD(S). The BJP is said to have the support of one independent MLA.
Meanwhile, ahead of the voting, Congress on Monday had moved all its MLAs to a hotel in Manyata Business Park to prevent any last-minute poaching. A mock voting exercise was also organised during the Congress legislature party meeting and the MLAs were informed to whom they have to give their first and second preference vote.
Himachal Pradesh is seeing a tight for the lone Rajya Sabha seat between Congress candidate senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi and BJP’s Harsh Mahajan. On Monday, the Congress issued a whip to its MLAs to vote for Singhvi, following which the Congress has a clear majority with 40 out of 68 MLAs and the support of three independent MLAs.
The BJP nominee hit out over the whip and complained to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), calling it “unethical”. Meanwhile, Congress alleged that the BJP is planning for horse-trading amid the election.
(With inputs from agencies)