After prolonged political drama in Gujarat Assembly and at the Election commission in New Delhi congress leader Ahmad Patel finally won Rajaya Sabha from Gujarat. Mr. Patel victory is seen as a major setback for BJP and its president Amit Shah in Gujarat and a big boast to congress party.
Ahmed PatelVerified account @ahmedpatel 11 minutes ago
Ahmed PatelVerified account @ahmedpatel
Ahmed PatelVerified account @ahmedpatel
I want to thank each & every MLA who voted for me despite unprecedented intimidation & pressure from BJP.They voted for an inclusive India.
Our Correspondent
Though the result have not yet been officially declared, Congress MLAs claimed that Ahmad patel got 44 vote whiche more than required votes.
Counting of votes for 3 Rajya Sabha seats resumed in Gujarat after election commission gave its order to ‘invalidate’ votes of two congress rebel MLAs Raghavji Patel and Bholabhai Gohil around 11.30 PM Tuesday night .
The two MLAs showed their ballot papers to the presiding officer of the BJP violating elections rule. Congress had alleged it as violation of the elections rules.
EC accpted the demand of Congress party to invalidate the votes of the two rebel MLAs.
Even after EC order high drama was seen at counting centre where counting was stalled several time citing different reasons.
Earlier both the BJP and Congress knocked the doors of Election Commission in New Delhi with their arguments over controversy in elections for three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat.
EC Order on Gujarat Biennial Election rejecting votes of 2 MLAs
The BJP demanded the immediate counting of votes while the Congress demanded rejection of two disputed ballot papers of its MLAs.
A BJP delegation led by Union Minister Arun Jaitley met the Commission in this regard. Briefing reporters after meeting the poll panel, Law Minister Ravi Shakar Prasad who was also the part of the delegation said, the delegation has requested the Commission to reject the Congress plea of quashing the votes of two Congress legislators who allegedly showed their votes publically.
Union Minister Piyush Goel said, the Congress is crying foul after seeing possible defeat in the polls. He said, since the start of the polling of votes till closing , the Congress has raised no objection.
Earlier, two delegations of Congress approached the Commission complaining violation of voting procedure in the election. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram demanded the Election Commission should reject two ballot papers for violation of voting procedures in the election.
Talking to media after submitting a memorandum to the Commission, Mr Chidambaram cited its decision of cancellation of vote of Congress MLA in Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana last year.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that his party wants the election commission to cancel the votes of the two MLAs.
Earlier, today polling was held for 3 Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat. BJP President Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput and Congress leader Ahmed Patel are in the fray.
The election had been necessitated following the completion of the tenure of three existing members, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Dilip Pandya of BJP and Ahmed Patel of Congress.