The Congress on Tuesday said it will issue show-cause notices to its MLAs who reportedly cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana. The party also warned of strict disciplinary action.
“We are going to issue a show-cause notice to them,” Congress general secretary in charge of Haryana, B K Hariprasad, said.
Voting for two Rajya Sabha seats was held in Chandigarh on Monday. BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia won one seat comfortably, while Congress candidate Karamvir Singh Boudh secured the other in a close contest against Independent candidate Satish Nandal.
Boudh’s narrow win came amid allegations that five Congress MLAs had cross-voted. Of the five votes declared invalid by the Returning Officer, four were reportedly cast by Congress legislators.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, two MLAs of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) abstained from voting. Bhatia got 39 first-preference votes. In the contest for the second seat, Boudh got 28 votes, while Nandal received 16.
As per the Rajya Sabha election formula, the required quota to win a seat was 27.67 (vote value). Both Bhatia and Boudh crossed this mark, so there was no need for transfer of votes. However, sources said that if one more Congress MLA had cross-voted, Nandal could have received Bhatia’s 11 second-preference votes and reached a total of 28.
Congratulating the winners, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said Nandal lost by just one vote, referring to the close margin. “Five Congress MLAs cross-voted and four of their votes were rejected,” Saini said. He also noted that BJP-backed Nandal had earlier contested the 2019 Assembly polls as its candidate.
State Congress chief Rao Narender Singh warned that those who “betrayed” the party will face strict action. Hariprasad had also said action would be taken against MLAs who cross-voted.
Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said he would not name those involved but added that people have understood the situation. Targeting the BJP, Hooda said the party tried all tactics, but the Congress still managed to win one seat. He described it as passing an “Agni Pariksha.”
Also read: Haryana RS polls: BJP, Congress win one each
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