Rajya Sabha (File Photo)
Rajya Sabha contests in Maharashtra, MP, Karnataka and Rajasthan ended without a vote on Thursday. NCP’s Rajendra Jain was elected in the bypoll to the seat vacated by deputy CM Sunetra Pawar in the state (), while BJP swept 3 seats in MP. Three Congress candidates and one BJP neta were elected in Karnataka, and two BJP and one Congress nominee from Rajasthan.In MP, BJP’s Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agarwal and Mahesh Kewat were declared elected after the 3pm withdrawal deadline and Congress’s Meenakshi Natarajan’s rejected nomination remained unrestored. Her nomination was rejected over alleged concealment of details linked to a Telangana case. BJP’s surprise call on 3rd Rajya Sabha seat in MP fed poaching fears in CongressThe row capped one of MP’s most turbulent Rajya Sabha battles in years after BJP’s surprise decision to field Kewat for a third seat despite lacking clear numbers. The decision sparked fears of cross-voting and poaching in Congress camp before Natarajan’s nomination was rejected.LoP Umang Singhar questioned EC’s silence. “When EC has special powers to intervene and decide such matters, why was no decision taken on Congress’s objection? Why is there activism in BJP’s matters and silence in Congress’s case?” he said, calling it a test of “credibility of democratic and electoral process itself”. In Karnataka, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress nominees Mansoor Ali Khan, educationist and son of former Union minister K Rahman Khan, and party media and publicity department chairperson Pawan Khera, and BJP’s M Nagaraja were declared elected unopposed after scrutiny knocked out an independent candidate.Rajasthan’s biennial election also turned into a walkover. BJP’s Satish Poonia and Alka Gurjar, along with Congress nominee Neeraj Dangi, were elected unopposed. The outcome preserves the status quo in the state’s RS representation, with BJP and Congress holding five seats each.
