Rajya Sabha Polls: Why Maharashtra Counting Delayed For Hours Explained
NDTV
Maharashtra Rajya Sabha elections: The BJP challenged the votes cast by cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad (NCP), Yashomati Thakur (Congress) and Suhas Kande (Shiv Sena)
The counting for election to six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra was delayed for several hours on Friday as the BJP questioned the validity of ballots cast by three MLAs of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi, or MVA, coalition, alleging that rules were violated. The counting of votes, which was to start at 5 pm on Friday, had not started even after midnight.
The MVA, too, sought to invalidate two votes, one by a BJP MLA and another by an independent.
The BJP challenged the votes cast by cabinet ministers Jitendra Awhad (NCP), Yashomati Thakur (Congress) and Suhas Kande (Shiv Sena).
The BJP alleged Mr Awhad and Mr Thakur gave their ballots to their party agents instead of only showing them, while Mr Kande allegedly showed his ballot to two different agents.
Election Results 2024: Introduced in 2013 following a Supreme Court directive, NOTA offers voters an option to reject all candidates while maintaining ballot secrecy.
PM Modi also offered the Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha congratulations for their win in the election in that state.
However, Salman who got married on Friday night will miss his own wedding reception, scheduled for November 26 in Meerut, due to the district ban imposed just a day before the 'nikah' (wedding).
Maharashtra Election Results 2024: The rebel faction of Eknath Shinde, which has pitched the electoral battle as an acid test of "who is the real Shiv Sena" has lost no time to announce it as an ideological victory.
Meanwhile, as the dust settles after the counting of votes, the identity of the victor of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election is settled, and the focus now will be on the next Chief Minister.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in January and released on bail in June.
Jharkhand Elections Results 2024: JMM chief Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana are parents to two boys. Sharing a picture of his two sons, he wrote, "My strength."
Overall, the BJP has not only retained the three seats it won in 2022 but also flipped two others - Kundarki and Katehari - while also picking up a sixth from allies NISHAD Party.
Fahad Ahmed, a candidate of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, is currently trailing Sana Malik, nominee of Ajit Pawar's NCP, by over 3,000 votes and the counting is nearing completion.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which includes the Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, is en route to a thumping win in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election, thanks to its two smaller allies.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader said the results are not acceptable to his party and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.