BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya admits he voted against BJP in RS polls

Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], Aug 09 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Nalin Kotadiya said that he has voted against BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls after seeing the pain of 14 youths who died during Patidar agitation. He himself admitted in a Facebook post, and said, "Seeing the pain of 14 youths who died during Patidar agitation I voted against BJP." His vote may have probably resulted in the victory of Congress candidate Ahmed Patel, who won the election by securing necessary 44 votes. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani are other two candidates and are likely to win with ease. Voting for the three Rajya Sabha seats was conducted on Tuesday. Total 176 MLAs voted in the crucial elections, but two votes were declared invalid. The EC on late Tuesday night declared votes of two Congress MLAs- Bhola Bhai Gohil and Raghav Bhai Patel- invalid. The decision was taken on a complaint of the Congress. The Congress had complained to the EC that the MLAs had shown their votes to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and independent candidate Balwantsinh Rajput instead of representative of Congress candidate Ahmed Patel. Ahmed Patel's win is being considered a major victory of Congress and a blow for the BJP. Congress had made candidature of Ahmed Patel as a matter of prestige. The BJP also left no stone unturned to win all the three seats. The saffron pitted Balwantsinh Rajput, a recent acquisition from the Congress, against Ahmed Patel knowing that Patel's defeat will bring huge embarrassment for Sonia Gandhi since he is her political secretary. (ANI)