Rajya Sabha Polls: Cross-Voting Allegations Against 5 MLAs in 2 States

Legislators from four states queued up to vote for 16 Rajya Sabha seats on Friday, with some being ferried from resorts they had been sequestered in amid fears of poaching by rivals.

Some legislators allegedly cross-voted for the nominees of the rival parties in the high-stakes race to the Upper House.

The cross-voting is significant as the number of candidates exceeds the seats in the four states - Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Srinivas Gowda

Janata Dal (Secular) leader Srinivas Gowda voted for Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls being held for four seats in Karnataka today. On being asked, Mr Gowda said, "I voted for Congress because I love it."

Srinivas Gubbi

Another Janata Dal (Secular) leader, Srinivas Gubbi, also voted for Congress. Party President HD Kumaraswamy confirmed that two of the party's 32 MLAs went against it and voted for Congress.

Shobha Rani Kushwaha

Shobha Rani Kushwaha, the BJP candidate from Dholpur in Rajasthan, was voting when her party's poll observer Rajendra Rathore took her vote slip, which is against the rules. Ms Kushwaha, reports said, was going to cross-vote for the Congress candidate, Pramod Tiwari.

Siddhi Kumari

Another Rajasthan BJP MLA, Siddhi Kumari, sources say, voted for Ghanshyam Tiwari instead of Subhash Chandra, the BJP-backed independent candidate

Kailash Chandra Meena

BJP MLA from Garhi in Banswara, Kailash Chandra Meena, faced a technical objection about the validity of his vote. Sources said he erroneously ended up showing his vote to Congress state president and polling agent Govind Singh Dotasra.