Gandhinagar, Aug 9 (IANS): Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday said that the Congress won the Rajya Sabha election from the third seat in the state because two votes were invalidated and the BJP will explore legal options to challenge the Election Commission's decision.

Rupani told reporters after Congress leader Ahmed Patel won the bitterly-contested Rajya Sabha election that Congress support had actually come down from 57 MLAs to just 44.

"The Congress earlier had 57 MLAs and along with their allies they had the support of 61 MLAs. But they were reduced to 44 MLAs. Out candidate lost by just half a vote," he said.

Referring to EC's decision to invalidate the votes of two Congress rebels, he said the BJP does not agree with it.

"We don't agree with the EC's decision, we will take all possible legal action. The two disputed votes, which were invalidated, had they been counted, we would have won," he added.

He also added that the Congress in Gujarat is "split vertically and has no future in the state".