Rajya Sabha elections 2020: Congress' Digvijaya Singh, BJP's Jyotiraditya Scindia, Solanki win from Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday scored facile victories to enter the Rajya Sabha through rival parties in Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP, which was placed comfortably to win two seats in the changed circumstances after toppling the Kamal Nath government, got a mild jolt when one of its legislators Gopilal Jatav voted for Congress candidate "by mistake". Another MLA Jugal Kishore Bagri had his vote rejected on technical grounds.

The final tally for the four candidates in fray was: Digvijay Singh (Congress) 57 votes, Jyotiraditya Scindia (BJP) 56 votes, Sumer Singh Solanki (BJP) 55 votes and Phool Singh Baraiya (Congress) 36 votes lost.

Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party MLAs voted for BJP, while the votes of the Independents were split. There were no instructions from the BSP and the SP, so the MLAs voted as per their discretion. "We have to ensure the development of our constituencies which can be possible by backing the ruling party," they said.

There was an added interest in the contest in Madhya Pradesh because the state witnessed a bitter battle between Digvijaya Singh and Scindia which led to a rebellion in the Congress, bringing down the 15-month old Kamal Nath government. With 22 Congress members switching to BJP, the state is now burdened with 24 by-elections.

Voting for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across 8 states concluded peacefully at 4 pm on Friday. Voting began at 9 am in the respective Assemblies and concluded at 4 pm.

Polling took place in 8 states simultaneously - Gujarat (4 seats), Andhra Pradesh (4 seats), Rajasthan (3 seats), Jharkhand (2 seats), Manipur (1 seat), Meghalaya (1 seat) and Mizoram (1 seat). 

Apart from routine preparations, the Election Commission had made special arrangements for sanitisation, social distancing etc. in view of coronavirus outbreak. The EC had arranged separate entry and exit gates.

MLAs were allowed to enter the Assemblies after the thermal screening. 18 of the 19 seats are part of the 55 Rajya Sabha seats which fell vacant earlier this year. Out of these 55 seats, 37 were filled uncontested.