Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Election: Harivansh Narayan Singh Wins

• First-time lawmaker Harivansh Narayan Singh from Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United won the battle against the opposition candidate, Congress’ BK Hariprasad.

New Delhi: The government easily won the election for the post of the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, as the opposition came up short in the contest that was seen as a test for its unity in the run-up to the 2019 national election.

The government had 125 votes against opposition’s 105. In the gripping build-up over the last few days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah worked the phones and won over fence-sitters like Naveen Patnaik.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), upset at the opposition Congress, decided to stay out. With the battle expected be close, even Union minister Arun Jaitley, who was recuperating at home from surgery, came to parliament to vote.