Chandigarh, March 13 With polling for two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana to take place on March 16 and three candidates in the fray, Congress MLAs on Friday moved to an undisclosed location, with sources saying they would head to Himachal Pradesh and return just before the voting.
In what appears to be an attempt to keep its members together, the party legislators left from here late in the afternoon.
With 37 members in the Assembly, the Congress has the required strength to help its candidate win a seat. However, the prospects could be in jeopardy if there is cross-voting.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia, Congress' Karamvir Singh Boudh, and Independent candidate Satish Nandal are in the fray.
While Congress leaders and MLAs who attended the meeting did not disclose the destination they were heading to, sources said that they are going to stay in Himachal, a neighboring state which is ruled by the party.
The Congress MLAs assembled at the residence of CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, where a meeting was held and later on most legislators left in two tempo travellers.
Haryana Congress president Rao Narender Singh and party general secretary incharge of Haryana, B K Hariprasad, were also accompanying the party legislators.
However, at least five legislators, including Kuldeep Vats, were not going due to prior family engagements. Hooda was also staying back.
After the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the two Rajya Sabha seats ended on Monday, the BJP, Congress, and an Independent candidate are left in the fray for the polls.
Two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana are falling vacant. BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are set to complete their terms on April 9.
The ruling BJP has 48 MLAs, Congress has 37, the INLD has two MLAs, and there are three independent legislators in the 90-member Haryana assembly, with 31 votes each required for two candidates to make it to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana.
Hooda has maintained that the Congress has the required strength of members to ensure the win of their party's nominee.
On BJP-backed Independent candidate Nandal relying on cross-voting from the Congress to secure a win, Hooda, who was recently asked that there were speculations that some Congress legislators may cross-vote, had replied, "Such speculations are only in the media."
Rao Narender Singh too had said that the Congress has 37 MLAs and its candidate is assured of a win.
Nandal, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly polls as a BJP nominee, on Thursday filed his nomination as an Independent, becoming the third entrant in the contest after Sanjay Bhatia and Karamvir Singh Boudh.
With Nandal throwing his hat in the ring, the polls are set to witness an interesting contest.
Polling will be held on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm and votes will be counted from 5 pm the same day.
Nandal would need 17 second preferential votes of the BJP, three votes of the Independent MLAs, two votes of the INLD, and at least eight votes of the Congress legislators for victory.
Nandal had lost to Bhupinder Singh Hooda from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency in Rohtak district in the 2019 assembly polls. Before joining the BJP, he was also with the INLD.
BJP's Bhatia (58), a former Lok Sabha MP from Karnal, is considered a confidant of Union minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Congress' Boudh, a retired Haryana government employee, has been a Dalit activist who has raised issues pertaining to the community on various platforms.
Currently, the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes department of the Congress, Boudh is learnt to be the choice of party leader Rahul Gandhi.