Chandigarh, March 17 – The ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress in Haryana won one seat each in the elections for two Rajya Sabha seats, which saw intense drama amid complaints and allegations of violations of voting secrecy and cross-voting.
The seats were won by BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia and Congress’ Karamvir Boudh.
Independent candidate Satish Nandal, backed by the BJP, lost. Eighty-eight legislators cast their votes. Two legislators from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) – Arjun Chautala and Aditya Devilal – abstained from voting.
In the 90-member Assembly, the BJP has 48 seats, the Congress 37 seats, the INLD two seats, and Independents have three seats.
As the counting concluded at 4 pm on Monday, leaders of both parties claimed victory for their respective candidates. However, counting of votes began late at night after approval from the Election Commission of India.
Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner alleging attempts to interfere with the integrity of the election. Citing the time-sensitive nature of the matter, he requested the Chief Election Commissioner to meet a party delegation before the results were announced. However, the BJP alleged violation of secrecy during the polling by two Congress lawmakers – Paramvir Singh and Bharat Singh Beniwal.
The Congress accused Transport Minister Anil Vij of the violation.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini cast the first vote of the day. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said his party’s nominee had secured victory on one of the two seats.
“It is our victory,” he told reporters here. Fearing cross-voting, the Congress party, which has 37 legislators in the 90-member House, moved its MLAs to resorts and hotels in Himachal Pradesh. Six among them did not go to Himachal for personal reasons. On Sunday night, the Congress shifted 31 legislators from Shimla to Kasauli. Accompanied by party general secretary and in-charge of Haryana, B.K. Hariprasad and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda, the lawmakers, on Monday morning, were taken directly in a convoy from their hotel to Chandigarh amid tight security.
The two Rajya Sabha seats would fall vacant as BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are set to complete their terms on April 9.
In the past, two instances of vote cancellations during the Rajya Sabha polls came to light that altered the election results. In 2016, the votes of 14 Congress MLAs were declared invalid. At that time, pens other than the prescribed ones containing purple ink were used. The cancellation of the 14 votes paved the way for the victory of Independent candidate Subhash Chandra, who was backed by the BJP. In 2022, the vote of one Congress MLA was declared invalid. Consequently, Ajay Maken lost to the BJP-backed Independent candidate, Kartikeya Sharma.