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Journalist Rajiv Shukla disturbs calculations of all parties in RS poll

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Journalist Rajiv Shukla disturbed the calculations of every party in the Rajya Sabha biennial poll in Uttar Pradesh by polling the highest number of votes, even at the expense of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Cross-voting reigned supreme among all parties barring the Bahujan Samaj Party, whose 50 legislators refused to budge despite lucrative offers having been made by rival contestants for the 11 vacant Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

As against the requirement of 36 first preference votes to win a berth in the upper house of Parliament, Shukla polled 50 votes, while his sponsor -- the Loktantrik Congress Party -- had a total of just 20 votes. Evidently, Shukla had succeeded in pulling votes not only from the BJP, but also from the Lok Dal, BSP, the Congress as also a couple of smaller parties .

In the game of numbers, the media personality of Ru-Baru fame even left BJP stalwarts Sushma Swaraj and Raj Nath Singh far behind -- both the leaders were seen through in the first round, Swaraj polling 36 votes, and Singh managing 38.

The BJP's three other candidates -- Ram Nath Kovid, Ram Bux Verma and Balbir Punj, another journalist from Sunday Observer -- could get through only with second and third preference votes.

The Samajwadi Party too could manage only one straight victory in the first round, of its nominee Sakshi Maharaj, onetime BJP strongman and staunch Kalyan Singh loyalist. The other two SP candidates, Jnaneshwar Misra and Dara Singh -- could make it only with second preference votes.

The BSP, with its strength of 50, ensured 47 votes for its nominee, Ghanshyam Khairwar, while the remaining votes were reportedly given to Rajiv Shukla at the instance of none other than party chief Mayawati.

Despite the abundant flow of money, the Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party's industrialist nominee M M Agarwal could manage to scrape through only in the last round. Lok Dal man Jayant Malhoutra, who had earlier been a Rajya Sabha member on a BSP ticket , however failed to make it.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's choice of a total non-entity was essentially responsible for the party's rout in the election. Its candidate Inder Khosla 's only qualification was his long association with the Nehru family's trust in Allahabad, so even partymen were not happy with him. Even though the Congress had only 15 MLAs, it could have struck a deal with parties like the Lok Dal, which it failed to do. Eventually, Khosla ended up with just 14 votes.

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