National Democratic Alliance candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh has been elected as the next Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The voting took place at 11 am in the Rajya Sabha and Opposition has fielded B K Hariprasad against Union government’s Janata Dal (United) candidate. Singh defeated Hariprasad by 20 votes.
Congratulating Singh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi he took to twitter and shared his best wishes. He wrote, “I congratulate Shri Harivansh Ji on being elected the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. An accomplished writer, journalist and active Parliamentarian, I am sure he will further enrich Parliamentary proceedings in his new role. My best wishes to him.”
Modi thanked the Rajya Sabha parliamentarians for choosing Hariprasad. He added, “I thank all the Rajya Sabha MPs who supported Shri Harivansh Ji. It is gladdening that he got support across party lines.” Other than the twitter, he said in the parliament, “I congratulate Harivansh ji on behalf of the whole house. He has been blessed with the talent of writing. He was also a favourite of former PM Chandra Shekhar ji…now, we are all Hari bharose.”
On the other hand, losing the battle former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi commented, “Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.”
In the election, Harivansh Narayan Singh got 125 votes, while opposition candidate received 105 votes. The post has been vacant since P J Kurien retired from the post on July 1, 2018.