BackRajya Sabha polls: Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut accuses EC of siding with BJP
The bitter contest in Maharashtra saw three candidates of the BJP – Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Mahadik – winning the Rajya Sabha polls. The Sena (Raut), NCP (Praful Patel) and Congress (Imran Pratapgarhi) won one seat each
PremiumDescribing the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in three Rajya Sabha seats as a “mandate of horsetrading", Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday accused the Election Commission (EC) of siding with the saffron front.
Raut said although the same mistake was committed by Sena MLA Suhas Kande and two BJP MLAs, Kande's vote was cancelled while that of the opposition party was retained.
"By putting pressure on the Election Commission in Delhi, our one vote (of MLA Kande) was disqualified. We had petitioned to make their votes invalid, but the EC sided with them. What has happened in Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan raise question marks on the (functioning of) the commission," Raut was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The leader also said that the defeat of Shiv Sena's second candidate Sanjay Pawar was not a setback for the party.
"In fact, Pawar got 33 first preference votes, while BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik got 27. But Mahadik scraped through on the basis of the second and third preference vote," he said.
"Rajya Sabha polls are a complex and rigid process, taking first preference and second preference votes. They won on the basis of the second preference vote, so best wishes to them," added Raut.
He claimed that three MLAs of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), an independent MLA from Karmala Sanjaymama Shinde, Swabhimani Party MLA Devendra Bhuyar, PWP MLA Shyamsunder Shinde did not vote for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) despite assuring to do so.
"We have taken note of this development," he said.
Talking to reporters here in the afternoon, Raut who retained his seat, said: "Some horses were up for sale at a higher price and shifted sides despite the assurance of their votes to our candidate."
Further, Raut expressed confidence that all the candidates fielded by the Sena would win the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls for 10 seats scheduled on 20 June.
Sharad Pawar's take
This comes even as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he is not surprised by the results of the Rajya Sabha elections.
"The result doesn't surprise me. Congress, Shiv Sena, and NCP have been voted as per the quota, except (NCP's) Praful Patel who has received an extra vote - that vote is not from MVA, it's from the other side. We had fewer votes for the sixth seat but Shiv Sena fielded its candidate and tried to make him win. BJP had the support of many independent MLAs and we had only a few," Pawar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"The miracle happened because BJP's Devendra Fadnavis managed to get the Independents on their side...which made all the difference. But this will not affect the stability of the state government," he added.
Maharashtra poll results
The bitter contest that went to the wire saw three candidates of the BJP – Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Mahadik – winning the polls. The Sena (Raut), NCP (Praful Patel) and Congress (Imran Pratapgarhi) won one seat each.
Of the 284 valid votes, Goyal polled 48, Bonde 48, Mahadik 41.56, Raut 41, Pratapgarhi 44 and Patel 43. Both BJP and the Shiv Sena approached the Election Commission, alleging breach of election rules and seeking disqualification of votes.
The poll panel directed the Rajya Sabha election returning officer of Maharashtra to reject the vote cast by Shiv Sena legislator Suhas Kande, after which the counting of votes got underway after 1 am.
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