BJP's Panwar, Ind Kartikeya grab Rajya Sabha seats
Geetanjali Gayatri
Chandigarh, June 11
In an election where one invalid vote cost the Congress the Rajya Sabha berth, both seats of Haryana went to the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party and the party-backed Independent candidate in the wee hours here today, after counting was delayed by over eight hours.
While BJP’s Krishan Lal Panwar polled 31 votes, Congress’ Ajay Maken got 29 and the ruling BJP and JJP-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma got 28 votes. Since one Independent MLA, Balraj Kundu, abstained from voting and one vote was declared invalid in the 90-member House, the quota of 29.34 votes required by the two winners was calculated on the basis of the valid votes (88, in this case) polled.
PANWAR POLLED 31 VOTES
- BJP’s Panwar polled 31 votes, Cong’s Maken got 29 and BJP and JJP-backed Ind candidate Kartikeya got 28 votes
- Since one Independent MLA abstained from voting and one vote was declared invalid in 90-member House, the quota of 29.34 votes required by two winners was calculated on the basis of valid votes (88) polled
- Since this is a preferential vote election, Panwar’s requirement was deducted from the 31 votes he polled
- The remaining 1.66 (31 votes minus 29.34 votes) additional votes got transferred to Sharma as second preference votes. So, he won with 29.66 votes
Since this is a preferential vote election, Panwar’s requirement was deducted from the 31 votes he polled. The remaining 1.66 (31 votes minus 29.34 votes) additional votes got transferred to Sharma as second preference votes. So, he was declared the winner with 29.66 votes.
Maken remained at 29 with one vote being declared invalid for having a tick mark instead of “I” while party MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi had cross-voted in favour of Sharma. The cross-voting by Bishnoi, son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and a non-Jat leader of the state, however, did not come as a surprise since he had been giving mixed signals right through the run-up to the RS poll. The Congress, which had 31 MLAs, was confident of a win with 30 MLAs even though the party “suspected” Bishnoi’s allegiance.
The BJP and JJP supporters, armed with garlands and ladoos, reached the Vidhan Sabha where the win was celebrated. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also arrived at 3.30 am on the Vidhan Sabha premises to congratulate the two winners. He was quick to acknowledge Bishnoi’s “contribution” to the win and announced that he was welcome to join the BJP, adding that the Congress leader “voted as per his conscience and must have had faith in PM Narendra Modi’s policies”.
Meanwhile, a blame game started in the Congress, stung by the defeat from the one invalid vote, even as the party president expelled Bishnoi from all party positions.
For Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, winning the Rajya Sabha election was being seen as a “prestige issue” since this was the first election after the party recently replaced Kumari Selja as its state unit chief with his loyalist, Udai Bhan. He had moved the MLAs to Raipur to guard against horse-trading after a show of strength at Maken’s filing of nomination papers.
The BJP, as also the Chief Minister, has emerged stronger post-election for pulling off the win despite the Congress having the numbers.
