In a major setback to chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu led Congress government in Himachal , BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan wins Rajya Sabha election.
Shimla:
In a major setback to the chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu led Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan has won the Rajya Sabha election after declaration of result here today.
Despite, Congress having absolute majority with 40 MLAs in the house of 68 MLA, and also claiming support of 3 Independent MLAs, the BJP having onl 25 MLAs. The victory of BJP candidate clearly showed that there is a strong resentment among MLAs against the Congress high command in Himachal as well as in the center, which led them to vote against their own party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi today. The defeat of Congress candidate is a great humiliation for Congress High Command and the Sukhu government.
In the election for one Rajya Sabha seat today, all 68 MLAs casted their votes, both BJP and Congress candidates cast 34 votes each and BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan won the election after a toss.
Six Congress MLAs –Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajender Rana, ID Lakhanpal, Chaitanya Sharma, Devinder Bhutto and three Independents MLAs Hoshiar Singh, KL Thakur and Ashish Sharma reportedly voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsha Mahajan taking the number of BJP votes from 25 to 34.
Today’s election result has put a serious question mark on the 14 months old Sukhu government as a financial bill is scheduled to be passed in the HP Assembly on February 28 and with 9 MLAs opposing it, getting the bill passed would be a challenge.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu accused the dissident MLAs that they compromised with their character and morality by voting against their own party candidate.
He also accused the BJP by saying that it is a murder of democracy that the BJP kidnapped the Congress MLAs from Himachal to the outside state.
The leader of the opposition Jai Ram Thakur hailing the victory of Harsh Mahajan said, “The Congress government has lost its majority in Himachal and should immediately resign.
