Today’s elections for two seats in the upper chamber of parliament saw Congress lose a Rajya Sabha chair to the BJP in Assam. The BJP won the second seat unopposed.
Congress suspended an MLA who was accused of wasting his vote by writing “One” on the ballot paper instead of “1”, reducing the vote count for the opposition-led Congress.
Congress MLA and ex-minister Siddique Ahmed were suspended. This has adversely affected the prospects for his party’s Ripunbora.
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Siddique Ahmed “deliberately disobeyed” the three-line whip, Congress stated in a statement.
Today’s polls were held for two Rajya Sabha constituencies in Assam. The BJP’s Pabitra Margherita was the winner of the first seat.
The second seat was up for grabs. Ripun Bora was an opposition candidate, while Rwngwra Narzary, an ally of UPPL, was supported by the BJP.
The All India United Democratic Front supported Bora. Any candidate must have 43 votes to win this seat.
The BJP and its allies received 83 of the 126 votes in the state assembly. Pabitra Margherita was elected from one seat with these numbers, but Rwngwra Nazarry did not get three votes.
Although the opposition received 44 votes, the final count was only one. A Congress MLA was accused of “wasting” his voice. Even though opposition parties claimed their votes were intact, it all came down to the wire.
According to reports, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (a former Congress leader who joined BJP in 2015) had “persuaded” some Congress MLAs to cross the vote.
Seven Congress MLAs voted in cross-party votes and helped the ruling party’s candidate.
