Gujarat Rajya Sabha Election: This is what Election Commission observed while declaring votes of two rebel Congress MLAs invalid

New Delhi: In a major reprieve to the Congress, the Election Commission on Tuesday night ordered rejection of the votes of its two MLAs in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections.

The order by Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti and Election Commissioner OP Rawat came after a high-pitch battle between the BJP and the Congress over the votes of Bhola Bhai Gohil and Raghavji Bhai Patel, who had voted for the BJP and showed their ballots to BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani, who are also candidates.

The EC has also asked the returning officer for the polls to segregate the two ballots and proceed with the counting.

This is what the EC order said:

Counting for elections in three crucial Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat had to be stopped on Tuesday evening with the Congress demanding cancellation of votes of the two of MLAs for displaying their ballot paper to the BJP`s polling agent.