Congress expels Haryana MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi for cross-voting in elections

Rajya Sabha Election 2022 :The high-stakes battle turned out to be a nail-biting affair with the Congress and BJP trading charges, even approaching the Election Commission.

New Delhi: The Congress party on Saturday expelled its Haryana MLA, Kuldeep Bishnoi, from all his present party positions for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections that concluded on Friday. According to the Haryana Congress, Bishnoi, an MLA from the Adampur constituency in Hisar, did not vote for Ajay Maken, Congress’s candidate from Haryana, and cross-voted in favour of BJP-JJP-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, who eventually edged out Maken.

After the BJP managed to win three seats in the Maharashtra Rajya Sabha Polls, in a major blow to the MVA, senior party leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said it was a “convincing” victory and attributed it to meticulous planning as well as team work, PTI reported. Speaking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan here, Fadnavis also took a dig at Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, who was one of the candidates in the fray, saying that BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik secured more votes than him.

Meanwhile, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar said it was because the saffron party had managed to win over some of the Independent candidates that were supporting the ruling alliance. “This has happened largely due to Devendra Fadnavis’s ability to win over people with all the measures at his disposal,” Pawar said.

Voting for 16 vacant seats in Rajya Sabha in four states — Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra — concluded at 4 pm on Friday. The high-stakes battle turned out to be a nail-biting affair with the Congress and BJP trading charges, even approaching the Election Commission. In Karnataka, BJP candidates Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and MLC Lehar Singh Siroya won three RS seats for the party, Jairam Ramesh clinched one for Congress while JD(S) drew blank. The Congress hit a home run in Rajasthan, bagging three seats while the BJP won the remaining one. The BJP’s Krishan Lal Panwar and Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, backed by the saffron party and its ally JJP, have won the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana, officials said early Saturday.