Congress' Pradeep Tamta set to win RS poll in Uttarakhand

Congress candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand, Pradeep Tamta, is set to be elected from the hill state, polls for which were held on Saturday.

Sources said, despite "strong differences of opinion" within the party over naming Tamta for the Rajya Sabha seat, all party legislators fell in line with the party high command's wishes and voted for the official Congress candidate.

The Congress candidate, sources said, got 32 votes while his opponent - Anil Goel, an independent, could muster only 26 votes.

He had the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is the main opposition in the state assembly of the hill state.

Assembly speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal earlier informed that the voting was peaceful and in accordance with the laid down norms and rules. Dan Singh Bhandari, the legislator who has quit the BJP, was the sole absentee who did not cast his vote.

--IANS

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