MLAs can't lose House membership for going against party's RS candidate

Tribune News Service

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, June 3

With the last date of withdrawal of nomination over and three candidates in the fray for the two seats of the Rajya Sabha from Haryana, Congress candidate Ajay Maken, in a spot after the entry of Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, is at the mercy of the “valid votes” of his partymen.

Formula to calculate quota

• Total valid votes (90) x100 divided by total Rajya Sabha seats (2) plus one (=3,000). The quota to win will be this total plus one. Since this comes to 3,001 and one vote is valued at 100, anything above 3,000 means the quota stands at 31.
• The second winner will be the candidate (in case the total number of candidates is more than the number of seats) bagging the second highest votes even if he doesn’t reach the quota. This is why a candidate netting 30 votes will win the second seat.

Though the MLAs cannot be disqualified for voting against the party candidate since a whip is not applicable, the party can only take disciplinary against them post election. Even as the suspense continues over the way Congress MLA from Adampur, Kuldeep Bishnoi, will vote and whether or not any members will abstain from voting, sources in the Vidhan Sabha said that the winner would need 31 votes in the House of 90 members.

“The quota is determined by a formula that is based on the strength of the House. However, as there are 90 members and there is a preferential system of voting, the second candidate will be declared elected even if he gets 30 votes as the third will only be able to get 29. However, this quota can come down if members abstain from voting,” an official associated with the conduct of elections said explaining the procedure.

While the BJP has 40 MLAs, JJP has 10 and Congress has 31 MLAs, there are seven Independent MLAs and two parties which have one MLA each in the House.

In the polling to be held on June 10, giving the first preference of candidate is mandatory for all the members and giving the other two preferences is optional.

If the BJP decides to support the JJP-backed Independent candidate against the Congress, all its MLAs will give the first preference vote to its party candidate Krishan Lal Panwar and the second preference vote to Sharma.

Once 31 votes in favour of Panwar are counted (he is comfortably placed) and he is declared the winner, the remaining nine votes will go to Sharma. The valid votes of both the candidates, Maken and Sharma, will be counted to decide the winner of the second seat.

Also, the MLAs of the three parties BJP, JJP and Congress will be required to show their vote to their authorised agents. “If an MLA fails to show his vote to his agent and he complains about it, it will be cancelled. In case he shows it to anybody other than his own party agent, then, too, it will stand rejected. This rule of authorised agents is not applicable to Independents and those with one MLA each,” the official said. In case of a tie, a toss will decide the winner.

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