• BJP-supported Subhash Chandra wins from Haryana after votes of 14 Congress MLAs declared invalid • Shocked Congress likely to seek explanation from Hooda after the loss of RK Anand, the candidate it backed • In the 27 seats in seven states that were up for grabs, 11 went to BJP, 6 to Congress, 7 to SP, and 2 to BSP

party was shocked

BJP wins both RS seats in Haryana after rejection of 14 Congress votes

NEW DELHI: The BJP registered a surprise win in the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana with Subhash Chandra, the candidate it backed, defeating Congress-supported RK Anand. Anand's defeat came after votes of 14 MLAs of the Congress were declared invalid.Even before the elections, there was speculation that the overwhelming majority of the 17 Congress MLAs, owing allegiance to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, would not toe the party line on supporting Anand.Sources said theby the behaviour of the 14 MLAs who apparently got their votes invalid by marking the ballot with a wrong pen and would go into the entire issue and fix responsibility. It is likely to seek explanation from Hooda, sources said.For the record, AICC general secretary and Haryana in-charge B K Hariprasad said, "We have sought a report from the PCC and the Independent candidate and we are going to lodge a complaint with the Election Commission about the way the election was conducted."The Congress also failed in its attempt to secure victory for JMM candidate Basant Soren, son of party supremo Shibu Soren, backed by it in Jharkhand where a ruling BJP nominee Mahesh Poddar won by a whisker after an arrested JMM MLA and a Congress MLA facing arrest could not vote.In the 27 seats spread across seven states that were up for grabs in Saturday's voting, 11 went to BJP, 6 to Congress, 7 to Samajwadi Party, 2 to BSP and one Independent. Thirty of the 57 seats in the current round of biennial elections were decided without contest last week.Former Union minister and Congress heavyweight Kapil Sibal won from Uttar Pradesh after defeating BJP-backed candidate Preeti Mahapatra, wife of a Mumbai-based businessman, without the anticipated support of BSP whose two candidates Satish Chandra Mishra and Ashok Sidharth won comfortably.Senior Congress leaders Oscar Fernandes and Jairam Ramesh were elected to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka where cross-voting by rebel JD(S) MLAs enabled ruling Congress gain a third seat. Former IPS officer K C Ramamurthy won the seat defeating JD(S)-backed Independent candidate B M Farooq, a businessman, in the third seat.Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Birender Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and M A Naqvi were the other big winners in the polls held on Saturday.