Gandhinagar: Voting began at 9 this morning in a hall in the Gujarat State Secretariat in Gandhinagar in a Rajya Sabha election that has become a huge prestige battle between the BJP and the Congress.

While BJP chief Amit Shah, who makes his debut in Parliament, and Union Minister Smriti Irani will be elected from two seats, senior Congress leader and Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel is struggling to get re-elected from the third with the BJP determined to stop him.

In a tight battle of numbers that is expected to go down to the wire, two legislators from Sharad Pawar’s NCP will play a key role. Voting ends at 4 pm.

Less than an hour into voting, veteran politician Shankersinh Vaghela called the election, declaring Ahmed Patel defeated. Vaghela said Patel would “not even win 40 votes.” He confirmed he had voted against Patel, saying, “Who will vote for a losing candidate.” Ahmed Patel needs 45 votes to win back his Rajya Sabha seat. He is counting on 44 Congress MLAs to support him plus the NCP’s two and a lone Janata Dal (United)’s legislator known to be close to the Congress leader.