BJP nearly pulled off a 2nd Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana, Congress hung on by a thread amid cross-voting drama

CHANDIGARH: The fight for the second Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana went down to the wire in Monday's election, and BJP was very nearly handed a surprise victory as five Congress lawmakers cross-voted and four of its votes were declared invalid. The opposition party clung on and scraped through by the narrowest of margins.

BJP's Sanjay Bhatia, a former Lok Sabha MP, and Congress's Karamveer Boudh won, but the scoreline didn't reflect the drama and suspense that dragged on till the wee hours of Tuesday.

The cross-voting and invalidation of votes came as an embarrassment for the Congress camp, which had bundled off 32 MLAs to Himachal Pradesh three days ahead of election, ostensibly to shield them from poaching attempts, and to train them to vote. Clearly, the party has its work cut out to keep its flock together.

CM Nayab Singh Saini took a dig at the opposition party, remarking that "25% of CLP has already shifted its loyalty away from Congress".

On paper, both BJP (48 MLAs) and Congress (37 MLAs) looked set to win one seat each. With INLD abstaining, each RS candidate needed 30 first preferential votes to win. But the entry of BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal skewed the equation for Congress. After ensuring Sanjay Bhatia's victory, BJP could still claim 21 votes, including three independents, but the gap still seemed impossible to bridge for Nandal. On paper, that is.

Polling started at 9am on Monday and went on till around 5pm. Both sides complained to Election Commission in the high voltage battle — while BJP alleged "violation of vote secrecy", Congress filed a complaint against Haryana minister Anil Vij's vote.

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to EC, urging it to stop the attempt to "interfere with the integrity of the Rajya Sabha election". "No disqualification of our legitimate voters / votes can be allowed in what is clearly a transparent attempt to taint / derail the process," his letter said.

With part of the drama shifting to Delhi, it wasn't until 10.30pm that counting started. At 1.16am on Tuesday, the returning officer declared Bhatia and Boudh winners. With Congress losing nine votes, BJP-backed Nandal was a hair's breadth from turning the tables.

According to the results, while Bhatia sailed through, Boudh polled 28 votes, while Nandal got 16. But the fight was closer than it looked. As per the formula devised for Rajya Sabha polls, Boudh's proportionate vote share was 28, while Nandal got 25, too close for Congress's comfort. Five votes were declared invalid — four of Congress and one of BJP.

"Our votes were illegally cancelled, but it was the blessings of Congress party, high command and leaders here that helped me win. I received love from Congress's top leadership," said Boudh. Bhatia attributed his win to his party high command and local MLAs.

"Based on the report of polling and election agents who have seen the votes, we have identified the five who indulged in cross-voting. We have reported it to party high command for further action. So far as invalid votes are concerned, our agents raised protests as those were in order. This is why we were protesting against conduct of officials," said CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

BJP questioned the opposition's ability to keep its legislators together.

Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli described the day's events as the "final steps of the end of Haryana Congress".

Haryana Cong working prez quits

In a surprising turn of events, Ram Kishan Gujjar, working president of Haryana Congress, resigned on Tuesday. Gujjar's resignation came after Hooda shared the names of five MLAs who had allegedly indulged in cross-voting. Gujjar's wife is also a Congress MLA from Naraingarh, the constituency once represented by CM Nayab Singh Saini.