In perhaps the most suspenseful election in Constitution Club of India’s (CCI) history, BJP Saran MP and longtime club hand Rajiv Pratap Rudy beat fellow party leader and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan in the contest for secretary (administration), as the contest extended beyond midnight hours and sent the political corridors into a tizzy.
The vote tallying went on for 25 apprehensive rounds, and the result was announced at around 2 am. Rudy received 354 votes, along with 38 postal votes, making his total 392 winning by a comfortable 102 votes over Balyan, who received 290. The election attracted a very high-profile voter roll cutting across party lines, with the likes of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior MPs from other parties visiting the club to cast their votes.
Speaking soon after his win, Rudy, who has been a Union minister under both Narendra Modi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said:
“People have transcended party lines and voted for my team and myself. The job we have done for the last two and a quarter decades has ultimately found acceptance in the votes of voters who count.
A fresh start for Rajiv Pratap Rudy
Rudy’s victory, insiders claim, was sealed when opposition group after Sonia Gandhi reportedly giving personal assurance to joined him in the Centre. MPs from the Samajwadi Party were also called upon to vote for the CCI veteran. Weighing of opposition votes brought momentum decisively in Rudy’s favor after a nail-biting beginning.
While Balyan had support from BJP’s leadership, along with considerable support among Jat leaders and state heavyweights from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Rudy banked on his 25-year club experience and the influential Thakur lobby. Most credit him with turning the CCI into a vibrant center for parliamentarians and political leadership from an abnegated institution.
This was not the only election of the evening 14 members contested 11 executive committee positions. BJP’s ex-MP Pradeep Gandhi topped the list with the biggest margin of 507 votes, followed by ex-Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill with 502 votes. Other prize winners were Trinamool MP Prasun Banerjee, ex-BJD MP Kalikesh Singh Deo, Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda, RSP leader NK Premachandran, Samajwadi Party MP Akshay Yadav, Shiv Sena MP Srirang Appa Barne, ex-BJP MP Naresh Agarwal, and BJP’s Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand, Pradeep Kumar Verma.
With this win, Rudy maintains his grip at the CCI an organization he has headed and molded for almost a quarter of a century yet again solidifying his position as among its strongest leaders.
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