Chandigarh, March 5 Satish Nandal, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Haryana assembly elections, announced on Thursday that he will file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections from Haryana as an Independent.
With Nandal entering the race, the Rajya Sabha elections are set to witness an interesting contest.
Nandal, running on a BJP ticket, unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Haryana Assembly elections against Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency in Rohtak district.
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.
Earlier on Thursday, BJP candidate Sanjay Bhatia and Congress' Karamvir Singh Boudh filed their nominations here for the Rajya Sabha poll for the two seats falling vacant from Haryana.
While filing his nomination papers, Nandal was accompanied by three Independent MLAs – Savitri Jindal, Rajesh Joon, and Devender Kadyan. These three MLAs are supporting the Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the ruling BJP has 48 MLAs, Congress 37, the INLD has two, while three Independents support the ruling party, with 31 votes each required for the two candidates to make it to Rajya Sabha from Haryana.
BJP's Bhatia (58) is considered a confidant of Union Minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Notifications for the polls were issued on February 26. Polling, if required, will be held on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm, and votes will be counted from 5 pm the same day.
The last date of filing nomination is March 5. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on March 6, while the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is March 9.
According to the Election Commission's poll schedule issued recently, 37 Rajya Sabha seats fall vacant on April 2 and 9, from 10 states, including Haryana, Maharashtra, Himachal, and Tamil Nadu.
In August 2024, Kiran Choudhry, a former minister, was elected unopposed in the Rajya Sabha bypoll from Haryana. She had joined the BJP ahead of the October 2024 assembly elections after quitting the Congress.
The bypoll was necessitated after the Congress' Deepender Singh Hooda was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak. His Rajya Sabha term was to end on April 9.
