Congress claims three Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka

New Delhi, February 27

The Congress on Tuesday won all three Rajya Sabha seats it had contested in Karnataka. Candidates Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrashekhar won by 47, 46 and 46 votes, respectively. On the other hand, BJP managed to secure one seat after cross-voting by one of its MLAs.

Elections were held for a total of 15 Rajya Sabha seats in three states on Tuesday, including 10 in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka and one in Himachal Pradesh.

“I thank my leadership, especially Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar. They worked very hard, had faith in us. They were closely watching the movements of BJP and JD(S), so they didn’t allow our MLAs to fall prey to their tactics,” Naseer Hussain said.

Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including JD(S) contestant D Kupendra Reddy. The elections were marred by cross-voting. While one of the BJP MLAs, ST Somashekar, voted for Maken, the other, A Shivaram Hebbar, abstained.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hailed the Rajya Sabha election victory, “This shows the unity and integrity of Congress. I thank all the MLAs, party workers and the media. I am very happy to inform you that all Congress candidates have won. I thank all voters, CM, party workers and the AICC President. I would like to thank Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.”

Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh, BJP won eight out of the 10 seats, with Samajwadi Party winning the remaining two, amid reports of cross-voting by seven Samajwadi Party MLAs, one MLA of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and one of BSP, who voted for the BJP.