Chandigarh, Mar 16 (PTI) Counting of votes for elections to two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana was delayed on Monday after the BJP and the Congress filed complaints alleging violation of vote secrecy.
The counting was to begin at 5 pm after voting ended at 4 pm.
Before the voting ended, minister Krishan Kumar Bedi told reporters that the BJP has complained to the Election Commission pertaining to “violation of vote secrecy” of two Congress MLAs– Bharat Singh Beniwal from Ellenabad and Paramvir Singh from Tohana.
“Two Congress MLAs did not have their ballot folded as it should have been and violated the secrecy of their vote. We have complained to the Election Commission,” Bedi said.
However, Congress leader Ashok Arora said no complaint was filed at the time these legislators voted, claiming that it was deliberately filed after 4 pm.
He further said the Congress too filed a complaint against senior BJP leader and minister Anil Vij, accusing him of violating vote secrecy.
Congress MLA Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the counting of votes will begin after the permission of the Election Commission comes.
Asked how confident he was about the polls, Hooda said the Congress will win one seat and the BJP will win the other.
Earlier, voting was held for the two seats on Monday, with Indian National Lok Dal, which has two legislators, abstaining from polling.
The Congress MLAs who were moved to Himachal Pradesh ahead of the polling returned to the city in the morning and exercised their vote.
BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress and Independent candidate Satish Nandal were in the fray for the two seats. The BJP backed Nandal, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly polls as its nominee.
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the Election Commission, alleging an attempt to interfere with the integrity of the Rajya Sabha election and seeking time for a party delegation to meet him.
In his letter, Kharge also attached a copy of the representation submitted to ECI filed by party candidate 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 cast can be allowed in what is clearly a transparent attempt to taint/derail the process,” the letter said.
“Given the time sensitive nature of the matter, we request time immediately for a delegation led by Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi along with senior leaders from the party to meet your good self before the declaration of the results,” it said.
Indian National Lok Dal Dal, which has two members in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, abstained from voting, with party leaders Abhay Singh Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal saying they have decided to make this decision keeping in view the people’s sentiments.
People are fed up with both the BJP and the Congress, Aditya Devi Lal, who is one of the two INLD legislators, told reporters.
The BJP has 48 MLAs, the Congress has 37, the INLD has two MLAs and three legislators are Independents in the 90-member Haryana assembly.
Thirty votes each required for two candidates to make it to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana after the INLD abstained from voting.
The MLAs of the Congress, who had been moved to Himachal ahead of the polling, returned to Chandigarh shortly after the polling commenced at 9 am.
Earlier, Gujarat deputy chief minister Harsh Sanghavi, who is a BJP observer for the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana, told reporters that he was sad to see the way the Congress moved their MLAs to Himachal and kept a close eye on their movements.
Haryana minister Anil Vij, who had recently fractured both his legs after a fall, arrived on a wheelchair to cast his vote.
On the Congress sending its MLAs to Himachal before polling, Vij said, “The Congress does not trust its MLAs which is why they are taking them from here and there.” Ahead of the polling, the Congress had moved its MLAs to Kufri in Himachal on Friday. They were accompanied by state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh, party general secretary in-charge of Haryana, B K Hariprasad and some party MPs from the state, including Deepender Singh Hooda.
They were shifted to Kasauli in Solan district on Sunday and returned to Chandigarh on Monday morning.
The Congress has 37 MLAs in the Haryana Assembly, but few of them did not go to Himachal owing to family commitments or health reasons.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Hooda had also stayed back.
The Congress with 37 members has the required strength to help its candidate win a seat. The equation, however, could change in case of cross-voting.
Nandal’s candidature was proposed by three independents — Savitri Jindal, Rajesh Joon and Devender Kadyan — and seven BJP MLAs.
Independent candidate Nandal, while talking to reporters, said he was confident of his win.
When pointed out that he did not have the required number on his side, Nandal said after he entered the fray he had approached all legislators and appealed to them to vote for him.
The two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana fell vacant as BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are set to complete their terms on April 9.
Nandal had lost to Congress leader Hooda from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency in Rohtak district in the 2019 assembly polls. Before joining the BJP, he was also with the INLD.
BJP candidate Bhatia is a former Lok Sabha MP from Karnal.
Congress’ Boudh, a retired Haryana government employee, has been a Dalit activist who has raised issues pertaining to the community on various platforms.
Currently, the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes Department of the Congress, Boudh is learnt to be the choice of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
In 2016 and 2022, the BJP-backed independents had won the election despite the Congress candidate having the required numbers on its side.
In 2022, Congress candidate Ajay Maken lost to BJP-JJP-backed independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma despite the party having the required strength of 31 then to win the seat. The then Congress party legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi (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 loss of a party-backed independent candidate who was otherwise expected to win. PTI SUN VSD KVK KVK
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