BJP candidate Krishan Lal Panwar and Congress party’s Ajay Maken on Tuesday filed their nomination papers from Haryana for the Rajya Sabha elections.
Kartikeya Sharma, the son of former Congress leader Venod Sharma, too has jumped in the fray and filed his nomination as an Independent candidate, seeking to make the election tough for the Congress candidate.
Haryana has 90 MLAs and if everyone votes, the first candidate needs 31 votes to win and the second 30 votes. In such a situation, the victory of BJP's Krishna Lal Panwar is certain. Congress has exactly 31 MLAs and if there is no cross voting, the victory of Maken too is certain.
However, with the changing political dynamics, there could be a contest between Maken and Kartikeya Sharma. Kuldeep Bishnoi, one of the 31 Congress MLAs, is reportedly angry with the party for not giving him any important position in the recent reshuffle.
According to a BJP leader, their 10 extra votes and 10 votes of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), along with seven Independents, means that Kartikeya Sharma just needs three Congress MLAs to cross-vote. Cross voting may spell trouble for Maken.
Sharma’s nomination has also revived memories of 2016 when 12 Congress MLAs were disqualified on the ground that they used the wrong type of ink when media baron Subhash Chandra got elected to the Rajya Sabha and not Congress backed independent candidate .
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, State in-charge Vivek Bansal, Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan and Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda arrived for nomination along with Maken. After the nomination, Hooda said that the Congress is fully prepared for the elections and there was no conflict in the party. At the same time, Maken said that he does not need to worry. It should be the BJP which should worry, he added. Bansal claimed that Congress candidate will win the election and Bishnoi's vote will definitely go to Maken.
Maken is a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee and he is a two-time MP. He was a minister in the Manmohan Singh-led government at the Centre and also in the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi.
BJP candidate Panwar, accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar and state unit chief OP Dhankar, too filed his nomination papers. He is a former transport and jails minister. A Dalit leader, Panwar had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly elections and was among the 16 candidates whose names were cleared by the BJP's central office for Rajya Sabha polls.
Haryana Power Minister Ranjit Chautala reached along with Venod Sharma to fill the nomination of independent candidate Karthikeya Sharma. JJP chief Ajay Singh Chautala on Tuesday said that his party’s 10 MLAs will support Sharma. “Kartikeya Sharma today filed his papers and all our MLAs will support him,” Chautala told reporters. Chautala expressed hope that Sharma will be able to get the necessary support for his victory. Sharma, who is the owner of a media firm, is the son-in-law of Congress leader and former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 40 MLAs while the Congress has 31. The JJP, which is an ally of the BJP, has 10 legislators, while the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party one each and seven are Independents.
Tuesday was the last day for filling the nomination papers while the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is June 3. Polling for two Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 10. Two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana will fall vacant in August as the terms of media baron Subhash Chandra, elected as an independent with the BJP’s support, and BJP leader Dushyant Gautam, will expire.