BJP wins 2 seats in MP, Scindia enters the Upper House

BHOPAL: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, party colleague Sumer Singh Solanki and Digvijaya Singh of the Congress were elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh on Friday. The polling for the three seats was scheduled to be held on March 26, but it was deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scindia, a former Union minister, got 56, Solanki 55, and Digvijaya 57 votes. Congress’s Phool Singh Baraiya managed just 36 votes. A candidate needed 52 votes to win. Two votes were rejected during the polling.

In a video message posted on Twitter, Scindia thanked BJP’s leaders and lawmakers.

“Given the responsibility bestowed on me with my election to Rajya Sabha from my home state, I will work with all my capabilities for the progress and development of Madhya Pradesh along with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under guidance of BJP national president JP Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah.”

Scindia, a four-time Lok Sabha member, joined the BJP in March as the resignations of 22 Congress MLAs brought down the then Congress government in the state. The BJP returned to power after 15 months in March.

It will be the second consecutive Rajya Sabha term for Digvijaya Singh, who is a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister. Addressing Congress workers Digvijaya Singh said, “I am grateful to the party leadership, state Congress president Kamal Nath, all the party MLAs, and other leaders and workers for their faith in and support to me. Now, we have to work for the party’s prospects in the by-polls to 24 state assembly seats. We all have to fight against the BJP under the leadership of Kamal Nath.”

Solanki is a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary from MP’s Nima region. He will be serving as a Rajya Sabha member for the first time.

All 206 members of the assembly voted. They included a Congress lawmaker, who has tested positive for Covid-19. He was last to vote on Friday. The BJP has a strength of 107 in the assembly while Congress has 92 members. There are four independent, two Bahujan Samaj Party and the lone Samajwadi Party lawmaker in the 230-member assembly.