Chandigarh, March 16 – Counting of votes for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana was delayed on Monday after the BJP and the Congress filed complaints alleging violations of vote secrecy.
Counting was to begin at 5 pm after voting ended at 4 pm.
Before voting ended, Minister Krishan Kumar Bedi told reporters that the BJP had filed a complaint with the Election Commission regarding "violations of vote secrecy" by two Congress MLAs – Bharat Singh Beniwal from Ellenabad and Paramvir Singh from Tohana.
"Two Congress MLAs did not fold their ballots as required, thus violating the secrecy of their vote. We have filed a complaint with the Election Commission," Bedi said.
However, Congress leader Ashok Arora said no complaint was filed at the time these legislators voted, claiming that it was deliberately filed after 4 pm.
He further said that the Congress also filed a complaint against senior BJP leader and Minister Anil Vij, accusing him of violating vote secrecy.
Congress MLA Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the counting of votes will begin after the Election Commission gives permission.
Asked about his confidence in the polls, Hooda said that the Congress will win one seat and the BJP will win the other.
Earlier, voting was held for the two seats on Monday, with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has two MLAs, abstaining from voting.
The Congress MLAs who were moved to Himachal Pradesh before the polling returned to the city in the morning and exercised their vote.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia, Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress, and Independent candidate Satish Nandal were contesting for the two seats. The BJP backed Nandal, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly elections as its nominee.
Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the Election Commission, alleging an attempt to interfere with the integrity of the Rajya Sabha election and seeking time for a party delegation to meet him.
In his letter, Kharge also attached a copy of the representation submitted to the ECI, filed by party candidate Boudh.
"There is a clear attempt to interfere with the integrity of the election, and the ECI must immediately stop/rectify this," the letter stated.
Furthermore, the letter said that no disqualification of legitimate voters or votes cast should be allowed in this transparent attempt to taint/derail the process.
"Given the time sensitivity of the matter, we request immediate time for a delegation led by Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, along with senior leaders from the party, to meet your good self before the results are declared," the letter said.
The INLD, which has two members in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, abstained from voting, with party leaders Abhay Singh Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal saying they had made this decision keeping in mind the sentiments of the people.
"People are fed up with both the BJP and the Congress," Aditya Devi Lal, one of the two INLD legislators, told reporters.
The BJP has 48 MLAs, the Congress has 37, the INLD has two MLAs, and there are three Independent legislators in the 90-member Haryana assembly.
Thirty votes each were needed for two candidates to get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana, given that the INLD had abstained from voting.
The Congress MLAs, who had been moved to Himachal Pradesh before the polling, returned to Chandigarh shortly after polling commenced at 9 am.
Earlier, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who is a BJP observer for the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana, told reporters that he was concerned about the way the Congress had moved their MLAs to Himachal and kept a close watch on their movements.
Haryana Minister Anil Vij, who had recently fractured both his legs after a fall, arrived on a wheelchair to cast his vote.
Regarding the Congress sending its MLAs to Himachal before polling, Vij said, "The Congress does not trust its own MLAs, which is why they are taking them away."
Ahead of the polling, the Congress had moved its MLAs to Kufri in Himachal 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 some of them did not go to Himachal due to family commitments or health reasons.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Hooda had also stayed back.
With 37 members, the Congress has the required strength to help its candidate win a seat. However, the equation could change if there is cross-voting.
Nandal's candidature was proposed by three Independents – Savitri Jindal, Rajesh Joon, and Devender Kadyan – and seven BJP MLAs.
Independent candidate Nandal, while speaking to reporters, said he was confident of his win.
When pointed out that he did not have the required number of supporters, Nandal said that after he entered the fray, he had approached all legislators and appealed to them to vote for him.
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 had lost to Congress leader Hooda from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency in Rohtak district in the 2019 assembly elections. Before joining the BJP, he was also with the INLD.
BJP candidate 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 is the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes Department of the Congress, and is believed to be the choice of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
In 2016 and 2022, the BJP-backed Independents had won the elections despite the Congress candidate having the required numbers.
In 2022, Congress candidate Ajay Maken lost to the BJP-JJP-backed independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma despite the party having the required strength of 31 at the time to win the seat. The then Congress legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi (now with the BJP) cross-voted, and 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.