Voting will continue till 4 p.m.; counting to begin at 5 p..m., results will be known by around 7 p.m.
Voting for 27 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Haryana began on Saturday.
While 30 of the total 57 seats in the current round of biennial elections had been decided without a contest, Saturday’s polls will decide the fate of the remaining 27 as the BJP and the Congress are engaged in a keen battle in some States.
Polling began at the Assembly premises in the State capitals at 9 a.m. and will continue till 4 p.m. Counting will begin at 5 p..m. and the results will be known by around 7 p.m.
Set to lose five to seven of its 64 seats, the Congress is pulling out all the stops to maximise its victories, especially in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana, in some cases, even at the expense of annoying a State unit.
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1.27 p.m.: All eyes are set on three independent MLAs in M.P. They are yet to reveal their cards.
1.23 p.m.: Returning Officer for the polls in M.P., Bhagwandev Israni tells PTI that counting of votes is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
1.20 p.m.: After having a verbal duel with Mr. Shivakumar over seeking the assistance of Congress MLC Govindaraj by Congress MLA G. Ramakrishna for casting his vote, Mr. Revanna seeks a CBI probe in the manner in which the polls were conducted, reports Nagesh Prabhu from Bengaluru.
1.16 p.m.: More than 80 per cent of the legislators have voted by 1 p.m.
1.10 p.m.: After having a heated arguments inside the polling centre during voting, JD(S) leader H.D. Revanna and Congress leader and Minister D.K. Shivakumar share a lighter moment in the Vidhana Soudha. Photo: Murali Kumar
12:00: Verbal duel breaks out between SP MLA Hazi Zamerullah Khan & BJP MLA Raghunandan Singh Badauriya during the Rajya Sabha polls in Lucknow.
11:50 a.m.: SP MLAs are goons who are openly not letting us cast our vote, they have been exposed, says BJP’s Krishna Paswan
11:30 a.m.: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chairs a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Bengaluru on Saturday morning and issues whip to all MLAs to cast their votes in favour of the party candidates.
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11:15 a.m.: Polling was briefly halted and it commenced minutes later after a verbal spat between SP MLA Hazi Zamerullah Khan and BJP MLA Raghunandan Singh Badauriya over their candidates.
11:00 a.m.: ANI reports - Just before voting began, Congress MLAs Devendra Singh and Nirmala Devi and JMM MLA Chamra Limda were issued arrest warrants with the sole aim of preventing them from voting, alleges the Congress adding that they were are trying to approach the courts but to little avail because of the timing of the warrants.
Karnataka
Allegations of bribing JD(S) and Independent MLAs marred the polls in Karnataka but the Election Commission rejected the demands for cancelling them.
With the Congress is keen on bagging three of the four seats from Karnataka, legislators of the faction-ridden Janata Dal (S) are likely to indulge in cross-voting .
Along with JD(S) MLA B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, who has openly raised the banner of revolt against the party leadership, a few more JD(S) legislators are expected to support the third candidate of the Congress.
All the 224 elected members of the Assembly are expected to exercise their franchise from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is no vote for the nominated MLA. The counting process will be videographed. The number of votes required to win is pegged at 45.
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Madhya Pradesh
Voting for the three Rajya Sabha seats in this State, in which BJP candidates, senior journalist M.J. Akbar and Anil Dave, and Congress nominee Vivek Tankha are in the fray, began on Saturday with MLA Ramniwas Rawat casting the first ballot at the Legislative Assembly in Bhopal.
After Mr. Rawat who is the Congress chief whip in the Assembly, BJP MLA Girish Gautam cast his vote.
In the polling, 228 members of the House are expected to take part.
Polling that began at 9 a.m. would end at 4 p.m. after which the counting of votes is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., RS returning officer in Madhya Pradesh Bhagwandev Israni said.
Besides the three official candidates, BJP leader Vinod Gotia, openly backed by the party too is in the fray as an Independent.
Haryana
Voting for two seats here began in Chandigarh. The seats are falling vacant in August, with three candidates, including Union Minister Birender Singh, in the fray. The Assembly has 90 members.
On Friday, the Congress announced support for INLD-backed Independent candidate and lawyer R.K. Anand for one of the seat.
While Mr. Singh is assured of a comfortable win on first seat, the Congress’ decision has made the task uphill for media baron and BJP-backed Independent candidate Subhash Chandra, who is locked in a keen battle with Mr. Anand for the second seat.
Uttar Pradesh
In Uttar Pradesh, where elections are being held for 11 seats, interest is centred around a fight between former Union Minister Kapil Sibal and BJP-backed independent socialite Preeti Mahapatra.
Mr. Sibal will need the support of the BSP, which has 12 votes more than necessary for the success of its own candidates Satish Chandra Mishra and Ashok Sidharth.
BSP chief Mayawati has maintained suspense over her party’s support. But Mr. Sibal can draw heart from the fact that she has already extended backing for a Congress candidate in Madhya Pradesh by promising one vote required for senior Supreme Court lawyer Vivek Tankha, fielded by the Congress.
Congress has 29 MLAs and needs the backing of five more to see Mr. Sibal through.
The ruling SP has fielded seven candidates, including Amar Singh and Beni Prasad Verma, who both rejoined the party recently, and Reoti Raman Singh. Its seventh candidate is, however, short of 9 first preference votes. The SP has been promised of backing by Ajit Singh-led RLD, which has 8 MLAs.
The BJP has fielded Shiv Pratap Shukla, who is sure to get elected on its own 41 MLAs, and has offered 7 surplus votes to Mr. Mahapatra.
Rajasthan
Elections to the four seats here began at the Assembly premises in Jaipur.
Leader of the Opposition Rameshwar Dusi cast the first vote, followed by former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, an Assembly spokesperson said.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, BJP’s national vice-president Om Prakash Mathur, former RBI official Ramkumar Sharma and member of the erstwhile Dungarpur royal family Harsh Vardhan Singh are the BJP candidates, whereas former Union Minister Kamal Morarka filed his nomination papers as an independent.
In the House of 200, the ruling BJP has 160 members and the Congress 24. The National People's Party has four, 'the BSP three, the National Unionist Zamindara Party two. Seven are independents.
The BJP has claimed the support of two legislators of the National Unionist Zamindara Party and three independents, who attended its training programme on Friday at a hotel.
The Congress’s State unit announced its support to Mr. Morarka on the directions of the AICC and issued a whip to the party MLAs to vote for him. It is expecting support of independent MLAs and other non-BJP parties.
Due to the presence of Mr. Morarka, polling has become necessary.
Jharkhand
In Jharkhand also, a close contest is possible where a united opposition can upset the ruling BJP’s calculations.
But its first candidate and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is sure of victory.
The BJP has 43 MLAs on its own and enjoys the support of six more MLAs of its allies.
JMM supremo Shibu Soren’s son Basant Soren is pitted against the BJP’s Mahesh Poddar. However, if the Congress (6), RJD and rest of the opposition come together and back the JMM candidate, Mr. Basant can look at victory.
Uttarkhand
In Uttarkhand, where election is only for one seat, Congress nominee Pradeep Tamta is set to sail through, needing just two additional votes apart from his party’s 26 and ally PDF’s six.
