In Uttarakhand, Congress' candidate Mahendra Singh Mahra defeated BJP's Anil Goyal by eight votes in the Rajya Sabha polls today. Chief Electoral officer Radha Raturi said Mahra got 39 votes, while Goyal bagged 31 votes. She said that except the nominated member R V Gardner, all the elected 70 MLAs, including Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, cast their ballots in the polling for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in the state where Congress has the strength of 32 seats and BJP 31. AIR correspondent reports that the Congress government in Uttarakhand today crossed one more hurdle in a bid to consolidate its position by winning the Rajya Sabha seat with the support of 3 independents, 3 BSP and one UKD (P) member.