CHANDIGARH: The ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress in Haryana on Tuesday won one seat each in elections to two Rajya Sabha seats that saw high-voltage drama amid complaints and allegations of violations of vote secrecy and cross-voting.
The seats were won by BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia and Congress’ Karamvir Boudh.
BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal faced defeat. Eighty-eight legislators cast their votes. The Indian National Lok Dal’s two legislators -- Arjun Chautala and Aditya Devilal -- abstained from the voting.
In the Assembly of 90 members, the BJP has 48 seats, the Congress 37 seats, the INLD two seats and Independents have three seats.
As the counting concluded at 4 p.m. on Monday, leaders of both parties claimed victory for their respective candidates. However, counting of votes began late in the night after a go-ahead by the Election Commission of India.
Congress President and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner alleging attempts to interfere with the integrity of the election. Citing the time-sensitive nature of the matter, he requested the Chief Election Commissioner to meet a party delegation before the declaration of results. However, the BJP alleged violation of secrecy during the polling by two Congress lawmakers -- Paramvir Singh and Bharat Singh Beniwal.