Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, changing the party-wise strength in the State’s Upper House representation. With his election, the BJP now has nine of the state’s 11 Rajya Sabha seats, while the Congress has two.
The Congress had filed objections to Puri’s nomination, alleging more than 100 discrepancies in his nomination papers and affidavit. The party raised questions over the disclosure of his wife’s name, foreign assets and overseas bank accounts. However, the returning officer rejected all the objections after examining the documents.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly’s deputy, Hemant Katare, said the Congress would challenge the decision in the High Court through an election petition. He said such a petition could be filed only after the election process was completed. “Now that Puri has been declared elected, our legal team will file an election petition in the High Court,” Katare said.
The Rajya Sabha seat had fallen vacant following the resignation of Union Minister L Murugan, who quit as a member of the Upper House on October 14. The Election Commission subsequently initiated the by-election process.
The BJP announced Puri as its candidate on October 28. He filed his nomination at the Madhya Pradesh Assembly on October 31 in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, BJP state president Hemant Khandelwal and other party leaders. The Congress claimed that Puri’s affidavit and nomination documents contained more than 100 discrepancies. During scrutiny, Congress MLA Hemant Katare and independent candidates raised three major objections. These included the alleged omission of his wife’s name from the affidavit, disclosure of foreign assets in US dollars and Swiss francs, and details relating to a property in Geneva and overseas bank accounts. Questions were also raised over the notarisation and authentication of the affidavit.
Returning Officer Umesh Kumar Sharma gave Puri an opportunity to respond to the objections. After examining the documents, he rejected all the objections, stating that no violation of the provisions of the Representation of the People Act had been established. The nomination papers of two independent candidates were also rejected during scrutiny, leaving Puri as the only candidate with a valid nomination. The Congress had supported independent candidate Rajkumar Lohani against the BJP nominee.
Lohani had filed his nomination with the backing of Congress legislators, but his papers were rejected because he had not attached the mandatory Form 26 affidavit. His request for additional time to submit the missing document was not accepted by the returning officer.
The nomination of another independent candidate, Kante Saiyanna, was also rejected because of incomplete information in the documents. With both independent candidates out of the contest and no other valid candidate remaining, Puri was elected unopposed.