RS bypolls: BJP wins both seats, 1 of them held by Ahmed Patel
Ahmedabad, Feb 22: BJP nominees Dineshchandra Anavadiya and Rambhai Mokariya were on Monday declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat as the opposition Congress did not field candidates for the two vacant seats, one of which was held by its veteran leader Ahmed Patel.
The two seats had fallen vacant following the demise of the sitting MPs belonging to the Congress and the BJP.
One of the seats was held by veteran Congressman Ahmed Patel since 1993 till his death on November 25 last year due to complications related to COVID-19.
The other seat fell vacant as BJP's Abhay Bharadwaj, a first time MP elected to the RS in 2019, too, died on December 1 due to the coronavirus infection.
Returning C B Pandya declared Anavadiya and Mokariya as elected uncontested from the two seats on Monday, which was the last date of withdrawal of forms.
Two dummy candidates of the BJP, Rajnikant Patel and Kirit Solanki, withdrew their nominations on Saturday.
With the bypoll to the two seats scheduled to be held separately, the Congress, with 65 MLAs in the 182-member Assembly, decided not to field any candidate due to negligible chances of winning against the BJP which has 111 legislators.
Anavadiya, a long-time BJP leader from Banaskantha, had also served as director of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation between 2014-17, while Mokariya, owner of a courier firm, has been with the party for almost 40 years.
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Put petty politics aside; it's not about one party, but India: Rahul on TMC's loss in polls
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the BJP's victory in Bengal and Assam assembly polls a "theft" of the mandate, and a big step forward in the saffron party's mission to "destroy" Indian democracy.
Gandhi also came out in support of the TMC, which has been trounced by the BJP in the polls, and urged those gloating over the loss of Mamata Banerjee's party to put petty politics aside.
"Some in the Congress, and others, are gloating about TMC's loss.They need to understand this clearly - the theft of Assam and Bengal's mandate is a big step forward by the BJP in its mission to destroy Indian democracy," Gandhi said in a post on X.
"Put petty politics aside. This is not about one party or another. This is about India," he said in his post.
The BJP ousted Trinamool Congress from power in Bengal and captured power for the third time in a row in Assam in results of assembly polls declared on Monday.
