After Seat-Share Deal High, Cross-Voting Upsets INDIA In Rajya Sabha Poll
NDTV
Unsurprisingly, the 16 votes went to Bharatiya Janata Party candidates, with the party now set to claim one additional seat in each state and receive a prestige boost ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
The INDIA bloc finished last week on a high after the Congress sealed a pan-India seat-share deal with the Aam Aadmi Party, and another with the Samajwadi Party for Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The Congress-led bloc was also close to an accord with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) in Maharashtra and reached out to Bengal's Trinamool.
Confidence in the opposition ranks, therefore, was high going into Tuesday's Rajya Sabha poll.
That confidence took a hit by close of voting after six Congress MLAs in Himachal Pradesh, as well as three independent MLAs, and seven Samajwadi Party lawmakers in Uttar Pradesh cross-voted.
