The North News
Chandigarh, March 10
With the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana ending on Monday, the BJP, Congress and an Independent candidate are left in the fray for the March 16 polls.
Sanjay Bhatia of the BJP, Congress’ Karamvir Singh Boudh and Independent candidate Satish Nandal are in the fray, officials said.
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.
Late in the evening, both the Congress and the BJP held meetings at their party offices in Chandigarh and Panchkula respectively.
Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli told reporters in Panchkula that 17 spare votes of his party will go to the Independent candidate in the RS poll.
The ruling BJP has 48 MLAs, Congress 37, the INLD has two MLAs and three legislators are Independents in the 90-member Haryana assembly, with 31 votes each required for two candidates to make it to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana.
A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party under the chairmanship of the 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 fray, but the Congress nominee is going to win his seat.
Hooda said that Congress has the required strength of members to ensure the win of their party’s nominee.
He asked the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has two members in the 90-member state Assembly, to clarify their stand on whom they will extend their support in the March 16 polls.
“The INLD keeps saying that it is against the BJP and the Congress. They should clarify whom they will vote for in these polls or whether they will abstain… they should clarify their stand,” Hooda said.
The INLD, which has two MLAs, is yet to take a decision on who to extend support in the upcoming polls.
With the Independent candidate claiming that he will also reach out to Congress MLAs for support, Hooda, when asked that there were speculations that some Congress legislators may cross-vote, 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 a win.
“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 had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly polls as a BJP nominee, on Thursday filed his nomination as an Independent, becoming the third entrant in the contest after Sanjay Bhatia and Karamvir Singh Boudh.
With Nandal throwing his hat in the ring, the polls are set to witness an interesting contest.
The Congress with 37 members in the Assembly has the required strength to help its candidate win a seat. The prospects, however, could be in jeopardy in case of cross-voting.
Polling will be held on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm and votes will be counted from 5 pm the same day.
On being asked whether he was still with the BJP, Nandal told reporters on Thursday that he holds the position of the state vice president in the party.
Nandal would need 17 second preference votes of the BJP, three votes of the Independent MLAs, two votes of the Indian National Lok Dal and at least eight votes of the Congress legislators for victory.
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 favour as he did not have the required numbers in his favour, 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… Fighting an election is everyone’s right and I am fighting this election under that constitutional right.”
Not perturbed by the entry of Nandal, state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh said, “We will win our seat comfortably. We have more than the required vote strength needed.”
Congress leaders including Hooda and Rao Narender Singh denied rumours 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, the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes department of the Congress, Boudh is learnt to be the choice of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
