Haryana Rajya Sabha elections: Congress names 4 MLAs who cross-voted, 5th still a mystery

CHANDIGARH: The Congress on Wednesday named Shalley Chaudhary, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Israel, and Renu Bala as four of the five lawmakers who allegedly cross-voted in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections. The two Haryana seats were won by BJP's Sanjay Bhatia, a former Lok Sabha MP, and the Congress's Karamveer Boudh.

Shalley is a two-time MLA from Naraingarh, Ilyas represents Punahana for the third time, Mohammad Israel is the MLA from Hathin and Bala is a two-time MLA from Sadhaura.

B K Hariparsad, AICC general secretary and in-charge of Haryana affairs, told the media in New Delhi that a party disciplinary committee, headed by Dharampal Malik, would issue show-cause notices to these legislators. "Further action will be taken on the basis of its report," he added.

The move comes a day after Haryana Congress working president Ram Kishan Gujjar—Shalley's husband—resigned following a warning by Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Hariparsad and co-in-charge Jitender Baghel were among the high-command representatives present on the Assembly premises during the election marked by high drama. Apart from the cross-voting, four Congress votes were declared invalid, and the final results were not announced until 1:16 am on Tuesday.

Suspense prevails over the identity of the fifth Congress MLA. Sources alleged that both the state unit and the high command are "protecting" this lawmaker.

Both Shalley and Bala hail from the Ambala district and are believed to be close to a senior woman Congress leader.

Hariparsad said he and leader of the opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda personally reviewed the ballot papers as authorised agents. He said the pattern mirrored the 2016 Rajya Sabha election, infamous for the "ink gate" controversy. In that instance, 14 Congress votes were declared invalid, allowing media baron Subhash Chandra to defeat R K Anand, the joint candidate for the INLD and Congress. Allegations surfaced then regarding a "clandestine" swap of the official violet sketch pen used to mark ballots. Anand claimed the pen was surreptitiously replaced to invalidate opposition votes.

Protest held
Earlier in the day, two Congress MLAs, Gokula Setia (Sirsa) and Manju Chaudhary (Nangal Chaudhary) staged a dharna outside the office of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committe in Chandigarh to demand the names of the five legislators who allegedly cross-voted in favour of BJP-supported candidate. A few minutes later, Leader of the Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda reached the spot, pacified the two, and took them along to the assembly to attend the session.