NEW DELHI, Aug. 14 -- It was a fight to the finish, but in the end Rajiv Pratap Rudy emerged victorious in the battle for the top job of the Constitution Club, a premier hangout for Members of Parliament in the national capital. What made the contest more intense was that the battle lines were drawn between two leaders of the same party. Rudy, five-term Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Bihar, took on former union minister and lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh, Sanjeev Balyan for the position of the secretary (administration). Announcing his win, Rudy told media persons on Tuesday, "... I may have won by more than 100 votes... And if that is multiplied by 1000 voters, then the number goes up to 1 lakh... This is my panel's victory..." Rudy, who has been at the helm of the club for over two decades, polled 391 of the 707 votes cast. His opponent, Balyan, got 291. Of a total of 1,200 member, 707 cast their votes. While there have been several occasions when the Club saw a keen contest, Monday's election got bigger with murmurs of the candidates being backed by powerful leaders from across the political aisle. Chatter among the parliamentarians seemed to suggest that Balyan was backed by BJP's Jharkhand MP Nishikant Dubey and Anakapalli MP CM Ramesh while the Congress's Deepender Hooda was leading the campaign on behalf of Rudy. Both sides, however, denied these allegations. On Monday even as emotions ran high inside Parliament,with the opposition and the government continuing to spar over a bunch of issues, lawmakers made a beeline for the Constitution Club, a stone's throw away from the Parliament Complex, where elections were underway. Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, several union ministers, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi turning up for elections added to the drama. There were friendly jibes between MPs over who was supporting whom, with ripostes and repartees. Over the past few weeks, both Balyan, a veterinarian with his earthy, son-of-the-soil image, and Rudy, a commercial pilot known for his urbane demeanour, assiduously wooed parliamentarians across party lines. Both leaders were often spotted in the hallway between the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, reaching out to colleagues. And the election was not easy, at least for the BJP leaders who had to pick sides....