Ahmed Patel retains Rajya Sabha seat

In a post-midnight announcement on Tuesday the Election Commission (EC) declared Congress heavyweight Ahmed Patel victorious in the high-stakes political battle for Rajya Sabha. Patel secured 44 votes even as two Congress MLAs allegedly cross-voted against him.

In the 182-member Assembly, total 176 members cast their votes for the Rajya Sabha elections at Swarnim Sankul in State Secretariate in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. Two votes were declared invalid by the EC following complaint by the Congress for violation of polling rules.

In his immediate reaction, Patel tweeted saying, "Satyamev Jayate.." in an apparent reference to fierce battle of prestige fought with the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). “I thank my party workers for their faith in me,” said Patel adding that this will revive the Congress in the State and “its impact will be reflected in the upcoming assembly elections.”

From the BJP side, National President Amit Shah made it to the Upper House with 46 votes, joining him is Union Minister Smriti Irani, who too got 46 votes. Party's third candidate and Congress turncoat, Balwantsinh Rajput failed to turn the tables in his favour and ended up losing to Patel.

The high-pitched political drama ended with a relief for Congress, which fought a battle of prestige for Patel, who is also political advisor to party president Sonia Gandhi. The BJP on the other hand had resolved to mark a big dent in Congress camp by defeating Patel.

Patel's victory brought a set-back to former Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela, who quit from the party last month triggering resignations of six MLAs from the Congress. Afraid of an exodus of MLAs, Congress got into a huddle and decided to take 44 of their MLAs away from Gujarat alleging 'poaching' by the ruling BJP. The 44 MLAs were first lodged at Bengaluru for nine days and then kept in a resort near Anand on Monday . They were brought to the polling venue at Swarnim Sankul in the State Secretariat in Gandhinagar in a bus with police protection.

Immediately after the completion of voting, Congress approached Election Commission claiming violation of polling norms by two of its rebel MLAs — Raghavji Patel and Bholabhai Gohil, who showed their ballot papers to persons other than the authorised party agent at polling centre. After a tug-of-war at the Chief Election Commissioner's office in New Delhi, both the parties threw their weight to turn the decision in their favour. However, the Election Commission, after detailed deliberations and inspection of CCTV footage of the voting, accepted Congress' appeal to cancel votes of the two MLAs. This reduced the requirement of minimum votes for victory from 45 earlier to 44.

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