Harivansh Narayan Singh elected new Rajya Sabha deputy chairman

New Delhi: The ruling NDA comfortably elected journalist-turned politician Harivansh of the JD(U) as Rajya Sabha deputy chairman on Thursday, beating Congress nominee B.K. Hariprasad in an election that was seen as a test for Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In a major boost to for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, its candidate Harivansh, a 62-year-old first-time MP from Nitish Kumar’s party, bagged 125 votes against the 105 polled by the Opposition nominee.

The post had been lying vacant since the retirement of Congress’ P.J. Kurien on July 1. Mr Harivansh was congratulated by the entire House, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in a lighter vein, said: “Sab kuch ‘Hari bharose’. Aur mujhe vishwas hai ke sabhi, idhar ho ya udhar, sabhi sansadon per Hari kripa bani rahegi” (Everything is now in the hands of Hari, or God. And I am confident that every member, whether on this side or that side, will have his mercy). Leader of the House Arun Jaitley, who was in Parliament on Thursday, also congratulated Mr Harivansh as did Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad.

In his speech, Mr Harivansh said it would be his endeavour to uphold the dignity of the Upper House and expressed the hope that differences would be ironed out through constructive debates, consensus and guidance. While the NDA was present in full strength, there were as many as 14 people who were absent from the House. As many as 232 members out of an effective strength of 244 voted, thereby reducing the majority mark to 117.

The NDA got the support of fence-sitters like the Biju Janata Dal (9), the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (6) and the AIADMK (13). Two members each of the Congress, Trinamul, DMK and one from the Samajwadi Party were absent from the House during the voting. The PDP and AAP, which have two and three members respectively, did not participate in the voting, sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat said. Two members of the YSR Congress also abstained from the voting. The nomination of Mr Harivansh was proposed by Ram Prasad Singh (JD-U) and seconded by Union minister and RPI member Ramdas Athawale.