Subhash Chandra, Kartikeya Sharma to queer Rajya Sabha pitch in Rajasthan, Haryana; trouble for Congress

Aditi Tandon

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New Delhi, May 31

Two prominent media barons — Subhash Chandra of Zee and Kartikeya Sharma of NewsX are set to queer the Rajya Sabha (RS) pitch by filing as independent candidates from Rajasthan and Haryana respectively.

Kartikeya Sharma, the son of former Congress leader Venod Sharma and incumbent Ambala Mayor Shakti Rani Sharma, is also the son-in-law of former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma.

While Venod Sharma is not in Congress, Kuldeep Sharma is a veteran Congress man.

Kartikeya’s entry could mean trouble for Congress nominee Ajay Maken.

In a house of 90 MLAs, the winning RS quota is 31 and the Congress has only 31 seats which is an edge. Cross voting may spell trouble for Maken.

Elections are due for two RS seats in Haryana. The seats are falling vacant on August 1 and elections are due on June 10.

Last day for nomination filing is Tuesday.

In the Rajasthan assembly of 200 MLAs, a candidate needs to secure 41 votes to win one seat.

The Congress has 108 MLAs and a surplus of 26 after securing two seats.

The Congress has nominated Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari as RS candidates in Rajasthan.

While Surjewala and Wasnik are safe, Tiwari could lose in case Subhash Chandra can manage the surplus votes of the BJP and also of some disgruntled Congress leaders who have openly questioned the fielding of outsiders from the state.

Subhash Chandra contested Rajya Sabha elections earlier as an independent candidate from Haryana in 2016 and won after 12 Congress votes were rejected due to the use of a different pen.