BJP won 8 seats in Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party won two seats.

The BJP today secured a surprise additional seat in the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh – with the help of Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal and a handful of Samajwadi Party rebels. This was a blow to the opposition faction India, which was looking for two more seats in the Upper House in this round of elections.

The other bonus seat won by the BJP was in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, where six Congress MLAs cross-voted.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had forced elections by fielding an eighth candidate for 10 seats in the state. The numerical strength decided that BJP would get seven seats and Samajwadi Party would get three seats.

But just yesterday, BJP leaders started claiming privately that some Samajwadi Party MLAs would cross-vote today. The numbers quoted varied between 7 and 10.

By late evening it was clear that eight MLAs stayed away from the meeting called by party chief Akhilesh Yadav. The party’s chief whip resigned this morning before the elections.

There was suspense and drama in today’s actual voting, in which seven members of Samajwadi Party cross voted. The vote of a SP MLA was considered illegal.