Voting began 9 am Friday for the high-stakes elections for 16 vacant seats in the Upper House in four states, Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Two media barons are battling it out as Independent candidates in Haryana and Rajasthan.
In Karnataka, a win over the fourth vacant seat is set for a cliffhanger with both Congress and BJP fielding an extra candidate and the JD(S), too, trying its luck with a surprise candidate by the JD(S) party with real estate baron D Kupendra Reddy. In Maharashtra, BJP’s three candidates, Shiv Sena’s two and Congress and NCP’s one each fight for six vacant seats.
Meanwhile, NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh have approached the Bombay High Court challenging an order by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court which rejected their pleas seeking permission to visit Vidhan Sabha Friday to vote in the elections.
Mobile internet services have been suspended for 12 hours starting 9 pm on Thursday in Jaipur’s Amber tehsil. Congress MLAs who had reached Delhi from Raipur Thursday evening are on their way from Delhi to Chandigarh by road.