Haryana’s Rajya Sabha elections delivered a balanced outcome as BJP and Congress each bagged one of the two vacant seats on Tuesday. The closely contested polls were marred by complaints of breached ballot secrecy and suspected cross-voting, fueling a war of words between the rivals.
Sanjay Bhatia of the BJP and Karamvir Buddha from Congress were declared winners after votes from 88 assembly members were tallied. Independent candidate Satish Nandal, supported by BJP, fell short. Two INLD MLAs, Arjun Chautala and Aditya Devlal, skipped the voting process entirely.
With BJP commanding 48 seats in the 90-member house, Congress at 37, INLD with 2, and 3 independents, the arithmetic was always tight. Vote counting kicked off Monday afternoon but was paused until late night, pending Election Commission approval.
Congress supremo Mallikarjun Kharge escalated matters by firing off a letter to the CEC, warning of external meddling in the electoral process. He demanded an audience for his team’s concerns prior to any result announcement.
Not to be outdone, BJP pointed fingers at Congress MLAs Parmevir Singh and Bharat Singh Beniwal for allegedly compromising vote privacy. Congress retaliated by accusing Minister Anil Vij of procedural violations.
The day began with CM Nayab Saini marking his ballot first. Bhupendra Hooda, Congress’s floor leader and ex-chief minister, exuded confidence post-results, proclaiming to the media, ‘We have won our seat.’
To safeguard against defections, Congress resorted to its familiar playbook: shuttling 31 MLAs to Himachal Pradesh hotels. Six opted out due to personal commitments. Under the watch of B.K. Hari Prasad and Deepender Hooda, the legislators were ferried securely from Kasoli to the Chandigarh polling station.
This evenly split result underscores Haryana’s fractured political landscape. While BJP retains its grip on power, Congress demonstrates it can hold ground despite internal and external pressures. The episode serves as a prelude to more intense confrontations in the state.