Chandigarh, March 16 – Voting took place on Monday for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana, with Congress MLAs who had been moved to Himachal Pradesh ahead of the election returning to the city and casting their votes, along with several other prominent MLAs.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia, Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress, and Independent candidate Satish Nandal are contesting the two seats. The BJP is supporting Nandal, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly elections as its nominee.
The Congress MLAs, who had been moved to Himachal ahead of the election, returned to Chandigarh shortly after voting commenced at 9 am.
Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who is the observer for the Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana, told reporters that he was concerned about the way the Congress had moved their MLAs to Himachal and closely monitored their movements.
"Seeing the situation of the Congress MLAs, as I am learning from the media reports, I feel very sad. The way the Congress MLAs were restricted in closed rooms shows a lack of trust towards their own MLAs," Sanghavi said.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Minister Shyam Singh Rana, other BJP MLAs, including Krishna Gahlawat and Mool Chand Sharma, Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chander Mohan, and Independent MLA Savitri Jindal, among others, cast their votes.
Haryana Minister Anil Vij, who had recently fractured both his legs after a fall, arrived on a wheelchair to cast his vote.
Vij and other ministers, including Vipul Goel, expressed confidence that the BJP would win, along with the Independent candidate supported by them.
Regarding the Congress moving its MLAs to Himachal before the election, Vij said, "The Congress doesn't trust its MLAs, which is why they are taking them away."
Ahead of the election, the Congress had moved its MLAs to Kasauli on Friday. They were accompanied by State Congress chief Rao Narender Singh, party general secretary in charge of Haryana, B K Hariprasad, and some party MPs from the state, including Deepender Singh Hooda.
They were shifted to Kasauli in Solan district on Sunday and returned to Chandigarh on Monday morning.
The Congress has 37 MLAs in the Haryana Assembly, but a few of them did not go to Himachal Pradesh due to family commitments or health reasons.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had also stayed back.
Notably, the Congress, with 37 members, has the required strength to help its candidate win a seat. However, this equation could change if there is cross-voting.
AICC secretary and state affairs co-incharge Prafulla Gudadhe told reporters here that the Congress candidate would win.
Responding to a question, Prafulla said Nandal, who is a BJP leader, entered the contest as an Independent and is backed by the saffron party despite not having the required numbers.
"What does all this show? Isn't it the BJP that has indirectly put up its candidate, even though Nandal may not be their official candidate? The BJP plays such kind of politics, like 'vote chori' (vote theft), which we saw in the Haryana Assembly elections," he said.
Nandal's candidature was proposed by three Independents – Savitri Jindal, Rajesh Joon, and Devender Kadyan – and seven BJP MLAs. Independent candidate Nandal, while talking to reporters, said he was confident of his win.
When pointed out that he did not have the required number on his side, Nandal said after he entered the fray, he had approached all legislators and appealed to them to vote for him.
The 31 Congress MLAs who had gone to Himachal from Kasauli in HP, reached Bhupinder Singh Hooda's Chandigarh residence from where they proceeded to cast their vote for the election.
Hooda and Chander Mohan, who were among the legislators who did not go to Himachal, along with other party legislators, reached the Vidhan Sabha premises where voting was being held in a room designated for polling.
Before heading for voting from Hooda's residence, senior Congress member Raghuvir Singh Kadian told reporters, "We will get 38 votes." Another party MLA, Induraj Narwal, claimed that the Congress candidate would get 39 votes, although both leaders did not explain from where the extra votes would come.
Congress leaders Ashok Arora and Aftab Ahmed said the Congress candidate would win.
The ruling BJP has 48 MLAs, INLD has 2, and 3 are Independents in the 90-member Haryana assembly.
Each of the two candidates requires 31 votes to make it to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana.
The two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana fell vacant as BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are set to complete their terms on April 9.
Nandal would need 17 second preference votes of the BJP, three votes of the Independent MLAs, two votes of the Indian National Lok Dal, and at least eight votes of the Congress legislators for victory.
Nandal had lost to Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency in Rohtak district in the 2019 assembly elections. Before joining the BJP, he was also with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). BJP's Bhatia is a former Lok Sabha MP from Karnal.
Congress' Boudh, a retired Haryana government employee, has been a Dalit activist who has raised issues pertaining to the community on various platforms.
Currently, Boudh, who is the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes department of the Congress, is learnt to be the choice of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
In 2016 and 2022, the BJP backed Independents won the election despite the Congress backed and the Congress candidate, respectively, having the required numbers on its side.
In 2022, Congress candidate Ajay Maken lost to BJP-JJP-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma despite the party having the required strength of 31 then to win the seat. The then Congress party legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi (now with the BJP) cross-voted while another vote was declared invalid.
In 2016, the votes of 14 Congress MLAs were declared invalid leading to the loss of a party-backed Independent candidate who was otherwise expected to win.