Chandigarh, Mar 17: BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia and Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana after the counting for the keenly-watched twin seats went past midnight following allegations of violation of vote secrecy by both sides, officials said on Tuesday.
It was a narrow win for Boudh over Independent candidate Satish Nandal (63), as cross-voting dented the otherwise comfortable position of the Congress for securing an easy victory.
While BJP’s Bhatia (58) is a former Lok Sabha MP from Karnal, Boudh (61) is a retired Haryana government employee and a prominent Dalit activist, currently serving as the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes Department of the Congress.
The two legislators of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) abstained from voting, reducing the number of valid votes to 88 in the 90-member Haryana Assembly at the beginning of polling.
Five votes were later declared invalid – four of the Congress and one of the BJP, the officials said.
INLD leaders Abhay Singh Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal said the party decided to abstain keeping people’s sentiments in view.
After both the Congress and the BJP approached the Election Commission alleging violation of vote secrecy, the poll panel declared Congress MLA Paramvir Singh’s vote as invalid.
Bhatia won the first seat comfortably, polling 39 first-preference votes.
In the fight for the second seat, Boudh polled 28 votes, while Independent candidate Nandal got 16.
As per the formula devised for Rajya Sabha polls, the quota required to win one seat was 2,767 (vote value), and both Bhatia and Boudh crossed that limit, leaving no room for any further transfer of votes.
However, with five Congress MLAs allegedly cross-voting, Nandal could have secured Bhatia’s 11 second preference votes, reaching 28, had one more Congress legislator cross-voted in the Independent candidate’s favour, sources said.
Taking strict note of the matter, Congress general secretary in charge of Haryana, B K Hariprasad, told PTI over the phone that the party will issue show-cause notices to its MLAs who allegedly cross-voted.
In the Rajya Sabha polls held in Haryana in 2016 and 2022, two BJP-backed Independents had won despite the Congress nominee and the candidate backed by it having the required numbers.
In 2022, Congress candidate Ajay Maken lost to Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, backed by the BJP and the JJP, despite the Congress having the required strength of 31 to win the seat.
However, the results went in the Independent candidate’s favour after then-Congress legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi, who is 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 defeat of a party-backed Independent candidate, who was expected to win.
Congratulating the winning candidates in a late-night press conference, Chief Minister Saini said, “Nandal lost by just one vote (referring to the narrow difference). Five Congress MLAs cross-voted. Four of their votes were rejected.”
Nandal’s candidature was proposed by three Independent MLAs, with the BJP backing him for the second seat. He had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Assembly polls as a BJP nominee.
Asked about ‘cross-voting’ by five of his party MLAs, state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh told reporters, “Those who betrayed the Congress will face strict action.”
The leader of opposition in the Haryana Assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, told reporters that while he will not take names (of those who cross-voted), “people have understood”.
Attacking the BJP, Hooda said, “They tried all tactics. But Congress passed the ‘Agni Pariksha’ (to win one seat).”
“’Prajatantra’ (democracy) has won, and ‘vote chori’ has lost. Right from the beginning, one seat each belonged to the Congress and the BJP. But the BJP tried to steal votes for the third candidate,” Hooda alleged.
The Congress veteran also alleged that the conduct of the returning officer was partisan.
Boudh thanked the party’s central leadership, Hooda and other state leaders for his victory.
Chief Minister Saini, on his part, accused the Congress of holding its MLAs captive and transferring them to different places, referring to the shifting of Congress legislators to Himachal Pradesh just a few days before the Rajya Sabha polls.
The Congress MLAs returned to Chandigarh on Monday morning, hours before the elections got underway.
“For the first time, I saw the Congress not trusting its own MLAs. The Congress is finished, it has no future,” Saini said.
The chief minister also lashed out at the INLD for abstaining from voting, saying it acted as a B team of the Congress.
The INLD indirectly supported the Congress, Saini claimed, adding that if it did not want to support the BJP, it could have voted for the Independent candidate.
The counting of votes, which was to take place at 5 pm on Monday after voting ended at 4 pm, began after a delay of more than five hours, with the Congress and the BJP lodging complaints of violation of vote secrecy.
Earlier, state minister Krishan Kumar Bedi told reporters that the BJP had complained to the Election Commission, flagging “violation” of vote secrecy by two Congress MLAs – Bharat Singh Beniwal and Paramvir Singh.
“Two Congress MLAs did not have their ballots folded as per the rules, in violation of the secrecy of their votes. We have raised the issue with the Election Commission,” Bedi said.
However, Congress leader Ashok Arora said no objections were raised when the two legislators voted, claiming that the complaint was deliberately filed after 4 pm.
He also said the Congress has filed a complaint against senior BJP leader and state minister Anil Vij, accusing him of violating vote secrecy.
Congress candidate Boudh, meanwhile, has filed a complaint with the poll panel against the returning officer for alleged partisan conduct.
On Monday night, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging an attempt to interfere with the integrity of the Rajya Sabha elections and seeking time for a party delegation to meet Kumar.
Kharge also attached a copy of the representation submitted to the EC by Boudh.
“There is a clear attempt to interfere with the integrity of the election, and it must be stopped/redressed by the ECI immediately. Furthermore, no disqualification of our legitimate voters/votes can be allowed in what is clearly a transparent attempt to taint/derail the process,” the letter read.
“Given the time-sensitive nature of the matter, we request time for a delegation led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, along with senior party leaders, to meet your good self before the declaration of results,” it added.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 48 MLAs, the Congress 37, the INLD two, while three legislators are Independents.
The two Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant with BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra set to complete their terms on April 9.
