Two RS members each of Cong, TMC skip voting

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 today.

While the BJP-led NDA was present in full strength in the house, two members each of the Congress, TMC and DMK were not present.

With 232 members out of the effective strength of 244 voting, NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh comfortably sailed through with 125 votes, while opposition's candidates B K Hariprasad managed to get support of 105 members.

Two members of YSRCP abstain from the voting.

The PDP and the AAP, which have two and three members respectively, did not participate in the voting, sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat said.

Two members each of the Congress, TMC, DMK and one member of Samajwadi Party were also absent from the house at the time of voting.

Fence sitters BJD and TRS also supported the NDA candidate in the election.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu today initiated the process of the election by calling for division of votes in the House.

The post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman has been lying vacant since the retirement of P J Kurien on July 1.

Congress-led UPA candidate Haripasad was able to manage support of other opposition parties like SP, BSP, CPI and CPI(M).