RS Polls:BJP wins 8,Cong bags 5 seats, big jolt to MVA

The BJP registered a win in eight out of 16 Rajya Sabha seats in the four states while Congrees bagged five seats in a fiercely contested battle. The biennial elections to Upper House of Parliament were held for six seats in Maharashtra, four each in Karnataka and Rajasthan along with two seats in Haryana on Friday. The results for all four States were declared early morning Saturday. Counting was held up in two states -- Haryana and Maharashtra - for over eight hours amid complaints of cross-voting and rules violation.
In Maharashtra, where counting of votes was hugely delayed, the ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar's NCP and the Congress won three out of six seats while the BJP bagged three seats. The BJP winners include Union Minister Piyush Goyal, former state Minister Anil Bonde and party leader Dhananjay Mahadik. NCP's Praful Patel, Congress' Imran Pratapgadi and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were also elected to Rajya Sabha from the state. Both BJP and the Shiv Sena approached the Election Commission in Maharashtra, alleging cross-voting and seeking disqualification of votes. Maharashtra's ruling alliance suffered a massive setback today with the BJP winning a third seat in the state in straight fight against the Shiv Sena. With this, the state's numbers in the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state are split down the middle with the BJP and the alliance winning three seats each -- an outcome that is expected to influence the coming MLC and civic elections in the state. The BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik beat Sena's Sanjay Pawar on the sixth seat. The results showed an unexpected 10 votes in favour of the BJP. A candidate needed 41 votes for victory.
In Haryana, BJP candidate Krishan Lal Panwar and Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, backed by the party and its ally JJP, have won the two Rajya Sabha seats.In Karnataka, the BJP won three seats and the Congress got one seat. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor politician Jaggesh and MLC Lehar Singh Siroya have been elected to Rajya Sabha from BJP, while the Congress's Jairam Ramesh won the remaining one seat. Mansoor Ali Khan from Congress and the JD(S) candidate Kupendra Reddy could not garner enough votes.
In Rajasthan, the Congress won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats while one seat was won by the BJP. Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari were the winners from Congress. Ghanshyam Tiwari clinched one seat for the BJP in the state. The Rajya Sabha election is crucial in view of the Presidential elections next month.The biennial elections to Rajya Sabha were held to fill 57 seats in the Upper House across 15 states. Of them, 41 candidates belonging to various parties in different states have won unopposed. 
The newly elected candidates included 11 from Uttar Pradesh, six from Tamil Nadu, five from Bihar, four from Andhra Pradesh, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, two each from Chattisgarh, Punjab, Telangana and Jharkhand along with one from Uttarkhand. Out of these 41 seats, BJP bagged 14 seats- eight from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and one from Jharkhand, one from Uttarakhand.