Polling for 19 Rajya Sabha seats underway, BJP eyes majority in upper house
New Delhi/IBNS: The crucial polls for 19 seats in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, are currently underway on Friday.
The polls are underway in four seats each from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two from Jharkhand and one each from Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
Earlier all four Karnataka candidates- two from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one each from Congress and Janata Dal Secular- were elected unopposed.
Former Prime Minister and JDS leader, HD Deve Gowda, who is now 87, won the Rajya Sabha seat with the support of the Congress' votes.
Others who have been elected from the state are BJP's Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti, Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge.
BJP candidate Nabam Rebia was also elected unopposed for the lone seat from Arunachal Pradesh.
The elections in Manipur will be interesting as the polls are taking place following the resignation of nine members of the ruling coalition turning the BJP government in the state minority.
With wins in 30 more seats, the BJP will attain majority in Rajya Sabha paving way for the ruling party to pass bills smoothly in the upper house.
The Rajya Sabha polls were earlier postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
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