Chandigarh, March 9 With the deadline for withdrawing nominations for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana ending on Monday, the BJP, Congress, and an Independent candidate are in the running for the May 16 elections.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia, Congress' Karamvir Singh Boudh, and Independent candidate Satish Nandal are contesting the election, officials said.
The two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana are set to fall vacant. BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are set to complete their terms on April 9.
Both the Congress and the BJP held meetings at their party offices in Chandigarh and Panchkula respectively in the evening.
Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli told reporters in Panchkula that 17 votes from his party will go to the Independent candidate in the RS election.
The ruling BJP has 48 MLAs, Congress has 37, the INLD has two MLAs, and three are Independents in the 90-member Haryana assembly, requiring 31 votes each for two candidates to reach the Rajya Sabha from Haryana.
A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, chaired by CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was held at the party office here.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Hooda said that three candidates may be in the race, but the Congress nominee is assured of winning.
Hooda said that Congress has the necessary number of members to ensure their nominee's victory.
He asked the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has two members in the 90-member state Assembly, to clarify their stance on whom they will support in the May 16 elections.
"The INLD keeps saying that it is against the BJP and the Congress. They should clarify who they will vote for in these elections or whether they will abstain... they should clarify their stance," Hooda said.
The INLD, which has two MLAs, has yet to decide who to support in the upcoming elections.
With the Independent candidate claiming that he will also seek support from Congress MLAs, Hooda, when asked if there were speculations about some Congress legislators voting against their party, replied, "Such speculations are only in the media."
State Congress chief Rao Narender Singh said that the Congress has 37 MLAs and its candidate is assured of winning.
"The BJP has put up its candidate. While Nandal may have entered the fray with the support of the three Independent MLAs, his candidature is also backed by the BJP," he said.
Nandal, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly polls as a BJP nominee, filed his nomination as an Independent on Thursday, becoming the third entrant in the contest after Sanjay Bhatia and Karamvir Singh Boudh.
With Nandal entering the race, the elections are set to witness a competitive contest.
The Congress with 37 members in the Assembly has the necessary strength to help its candidate win. However, this could be in jeopardy if cross-voting occurs.
Polling will be held on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm, and votes will be counted from 5 pm on the same day.
When asked if he was still with the BJP, Nandal told reporters on Thursday that he holds the position of state vice president in the party.
Nandal would need 17 second preference votes from the BJP, three votes from the Independent MLAs, two votes from the Indian National Lok Dal, and at least eight votes from the Congress legislators to win.
While filing his nomination papers on Thursday, Nandal was accompanied by Independent MLAs Savitri Jindal, Rajesh Joon, and Devender Kadyan. These three MLAs are supporting the Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana.
Asked if he was banking on some Congress MLAs to cross-vote in his favor, as he did not have the required numbers, Nandal had earlier told reporters, "I have entered the contest as an Independent and I will approach everyone for a vote; the rest is up to them... It is everyone's right to contest an election, and I am contesting this election under that constitutional right."
Despite Nandal's entry, state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh said, "We will win comfortably. We have more than the required vote strength."
Congress leaders including Hooda and Rao Narender Singh denied rumors that the party would shift its Haryana MLAs outside the state to Himachal before the RS polls.
Nandal had lost to Congress leader 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 Indian National Lok Dal (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, Boudh, who is the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes department of the Congress, is believed to be the choice of party leader Rahul Gandhi.