Haryana, 3 other states set to witness nail-biting Rajya Sabha contest today

Vibha Sharma

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New Delhi, June 9

The biennial elections to the 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states — Haryana (2), Rajasthan (4), Maharashtra (6) and Karnataka (4) — are set for a nail-biting finish after the zealous safeguarding and “training” of MLAs in resorts amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading.

Special observers have been appointed to oversee the poll process, which will be videographed, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on the eve of the polls. He also said votes cast by any pen other than one provided by the ECI would be considered invalid. Notably, the special pen was introduced after the “ink controversy” in Haryana when 12 votes cast with “wrong ink” were declared invalid in 2016.

Bienniel elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats across 15 states were announced recently and all 41 candidates in 11 states — Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Telangana, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand — were declared elected unopposed last Friday.

Elections to the 16 remaining seats will be held tomorrow as the number of candidates exceed the seats going to the polls.

In Maharashtra, where there is a fierce contest for six seats among seven candidates, the ruling coalition today received a major setback when a court rejected the bail plea of two arrested leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh, whose votes are critical for the elections. Both are members of the NCP, which along with the Congress is a part of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Incidentally, this is the first time in almost two decades that a contest will take place in the state.

Sena has fielded two candidates, Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar, opposition BJP three candidates, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik, and the NCP and Congress one each—Praful Patel and Imran Pratapgarhi. The MVA has the numbers to win three seats, the BJP can also win two on its own but it has fielded a third candidate Dhananjay Mahadik, setting up a contest for the sixth seat with Sena’s Sanjay Pawar.

In Haryana, where the fight is on for two seats, the BJP state leadership is leaving nothing to chance as it herded the coalition MLAs to a resort near Chandigarh yesterday. Exuding confidence for Krishan Lal Panwar’s win, state chief Om Prakash Dhankar says 31 MLAs will vote for him and nine will support Independent candidate and media baron Kartikeya Sharma.

Though the Congress has 31 MLAs, one more than the required number, Kuldeep Bishnoi’s recent actions and utterances have given it reasons to worry. The 10 MLAs of the BJP’s ally JJP are also expected to support Sharma. While the Congress has one more than the number required to ensure a win for its candidate Ajay Maken, factionalism and last-minute entry of Sharma have the potential to spoil his chances.

Similarly in Rajasthan, CM Ashok Gehlot had parked his MLAs in an Udaipur hotel, which also hosted the party’s Chintan Shivir last month. The state has four seats; the Congress has announced three candidates and the BJP one.

In Karnataka, the ruling BJP is set to win two of the four seats and the Congress one. The fourth seat, however, is the critical one for which the two parties have fielded an extra candidate. The Congress has fielded former minister Jairam Ramesh and party general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan, BJP Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor Jaggesh and Karnataka MLC Lahar Singh Siroya. Real estate baron D Kupendra Reddy is the JD(S) candidate.