Rajya Sabha deputy chairman polls: 15 Opposition MPs, including 3 from Congress, 2 from TMC, absent during voting

New Delhi: As many as 16 members, including 15 MPs from Opposition parties, were not present in the Rajya Sabha during the voting to elect its deputy chairman on Thursday. The NDA’s Harivansh Narayan Singh won the election , bagging 125 votes as against 101 polled by the Opposition nominee, BK Hariprasad. The figures were corrected after it was found that the votes of four Opposition members were counted twice. [caption id=“attachment_4902351” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The Congress and the TMC led the campaign to get the Opposition’s candidate elected to the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman’s post but failed to ensure that all their members were present when votes were cast in the House. According to Rajya Sabha Secretariat, three members each of Congress, Samajwadi Party and AAP; two each of TMC, DMK and PDP and one member of the Naga People’s Front were absent. Two members of the YSRCP abstained from the voting. While the BJP-led NDA was present in full strength in the House, three members of the Congress and two members of the TMC were not present, as per the official figures of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. The post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman had been lying vacant since the retirement of PJ Kurien on 1 July. Congress-led UPA candidate Haripasad was able to garner support of other Opposition parties like Samajwadi Party, BSP, CPI and CPM.