Rajya Sabha invalid vote: Focus on Haryana Congress agent, he stays mum

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, June 11

A day after the keenly contested Haryana Rajya Sabha poll ended in a defeat for the Congress, a blame game has erupted in the party’s state unit over the lone invalid vote that tilted the scale in favour of Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma.

A media baron backed by the ruling BJP-JJP alliance, Kartikeya defeated Ajay Maken, a Congress general secretary who has also remained a Union minister. The counting for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana was conducted in the wee hours today following a clearance from the Election Commission.

14 cong votes declared invalid in 2016 RS poll

• In 2016 RS poll, 14 Congress votes were declared invalid; media baron Subhash Chandra had won.
• Congress MLAs didn’t use the pen given by the returning officer.

A vote polled in favour of the Congress candidate had a tick mark against his name instead of a numerical ‘1’. It was, thus, declared invalid.

Congress state in-charge Vivek Bansal, the party’s authorised agent to see ballot papers of MLAs, refused to disclose whose vote was declared invalid. “Though I checked all ballot papers, I can’t comment on who marked a tick instead of writing ‘1’ against the name,” he said. In the Rajya Sabha poll, a ballot paper has to be shown to the party’s authorised agent for it to be counted as a valid vote.

The mystery deepened when soon after the results, a faction of the Haryana Congress blamed a senior party MLA for the invalid vote. Nobody, however, spoke on record.

Former Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Choudhry called it a “motivated campaign against her”. “To avoid the fallout of the Rajya Sabha poll loss, I am being made a victim. When I showed my ballot paper to authorised agent Vivek Bansal, the BJP-JJP and the Independent candidate (Kartikeya) went all out against me to get my vote cancelled. Had I put a tick instead of writing ‘1’, why would they go against me?” asked Choudhry.

Having served as a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, Choudhry said the entire episode showed how “desperate the people who had levelled the allegations were”. “If anyone issues a statement against me in this regard, I will initiate legal action,” she said.

Bishnoi expelled

The Congress on Saturday expelled Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi from all party positions after he openly cross-voted against party nominee Ajay Maken in Rajya Sabha poll held on Friday.

For cong, rerun of 2004

In 2004, a Cong vote was declared invalid due to a dot on ballot paper, leading to Kiran Choudhry’s defeat