Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The National Democratic Alliance romped home with all five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar and three in Odisha, and one from Haryana. Notably, the Opposition faced losses in Odisha and Bihar as candidates backed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) gained from cross-voting and the absence of some legislators.
The winning candidates in Bihar include Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Ram from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Nitish Kumar and Ramnath Thakur from the Janata Dal (United), and Upendra Kushwaha from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha. The Mahagathbandhan failed to secure a single seat. Amarendra Dhari Singh, the candidate of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, lost the election.
Of the total 37 vacancies in Rajya Sabha, elections were held for only 11 seats in Bihar, Odisha and Haryana as the rest of the members were earlier elected unopposed.
In Odisha, the BJP secured the victory of three candidates, including Dilip Ray, hotelier and Independent candidate it supported, while the Biju Janata Dal managed to win just one seat amid large scale cross-voting.
State BJP president Manmohan Samal, sitting BJP MP Sujeet Kumar and BJD candidate Santrupta Mishra romped home with comfortable victories. A fierce competition was expected between Ray and Datteswar Ray, a “common” candidate announced by BJD with support from the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Despite lacking the requisite numerical strength in the Odisha Assembly, Ray secured an incredible victory.
As many as 11 MLAs, including eight from BJD and three from Congress, had cross-voted.
