Assam: BJP, Ally UPPL Win Both Rajya Sabha Seats

The ruling BJP and its ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) has managed to bag the two Rajya Sabha seats in Assam which went to polls on Thursday.

While BJP’s Pabitra Margherita won 46 votes, its UPPL ally, Rwngwra Narzary won 44 votes. Narzary is the president of UPPL, which has seven MLAs in the House.

On the other hand, the Congress had to settle with 35 votes. Former Assam Congress president Ripun Bora was the Opposition parties’ joint candidate for the lone seat that they were contesting.

It may be mentioned that 12 opposition MLAs voted for the BJP candidates – seven from Congress and five from AIUDF. Each winning candidate needs at least 43 votes.

Earlier today, the counting of votes was stopped as the Congress had lodged a complaint to the election officer against four MLAs for showing ballot papers publicly at the time of vote.

The four MLAs against whom the Congress has lodged a complaint are BPF MLA of 65 Kalaigaon constituency Durga Das Boro, Jorhat BJP MLA Hitendra Nath Goswami, Borsola BJP MLA Ganesh Kumar Limbu and BPF MLA Rabiram Narzary.

Following the directive of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the counting of votes begun again late Thursday.

There are seven Rajya Sabha seats from Assam. Three of them are held by the BJP and one by its alliance partner AGP. An independent member holds another seat.

This time, the Congress wont have any Rajya Sabha member from Assam. Former PM Manmohan Singh was once a Rajya Sabha MP from the state.

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