Cross-voting dealt a heavy blow to Mayawati’s BSP as its candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar lost the Rajya Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh even as the results brought much-needed cheer to the BJP camp as its ninth candidate Anil Agrawal made it to the Rajya Sabha. The 10th candidate who won was Jaya Bachchan of the SP.
The results proved that the saffron party's prospects in the state hasn't diminished despite the setbacks in Gorakhpur and Phulpur byelections.
Amidst high voltage drama, the counting of votes for 10 seats begun after a delay of more than two hours. Votes of two candidates—one from the BSP and other from the BJP—were countermanded.
As many as 400 legislators cast their vote. The polling began at 9 am and ended at 3 pm.
Three legislators could not cast their votes—BSP’s Mukhtar Ansari and SP’s Hariom Yadav are in jail and Noorpur MLA Lokendra Singh died in a road mishap recently.
The counting got delayed because the BSP had raised objection with the Election Commission. The party complained to the EC that its MLA Anil Singh had not shown his vote to the BSP polling agent.
Singh, MLA from Unnao district, after meeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, had said he would vote for the BJP. This has given a big jolt to the BSP.
Another legislator who did cross-voting was Nitin Agrawal of the SP, who cast his vote in favour of the BJP. Agrawal claimed that he voted for the BJP and showed his ballot to BJP minister Brijesh Pathak.
Another rebel minister, Om Prakash Rajbhar, softened his stand and voted for the BJP. Rajbhar had come on a auto rickshaw to cast his vote. It may be recalled that a rebellious Rajbhar had announced a few days ago that he would not vote for the saffron party. However, he relented after party chief Amit Shah spoke to him.
Another turning point in the poll was Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhiyya’s vote. Though he had claimed that he would support the SP not the BSP, after voting, he met Adityanath, raising concerns over his stance.
Interestingly, during the entire time of polling, the chief minister stayed in the assembly, taking stock of the situation. He also met his legislators and listened to their complaints.