Chandigarh: The Rajya Sabha poll result declaration – at 2.30 am on Saturday, June 11 – in Haryana saw significant drama as it emerged that Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi did not vote for his party’s candidate Ajay Maken.
After voting on Friday, Bishnoi had declared that he had voted as per his consciousness.
One more vote of a Congress MLA, whose identity is not known yet, was rejected on technical grounds. His vote had a tick instead of the required ‘I’ mark, making it invalid.
The final result was not surprising. Despite having the numbers to ensure that Maken would win, the Congress candidate bit the dust.
Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda camp, which is currently in control of Haryana Congress, had incidentally been sure of Maken’s victory. However, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party alliance had the last laugh.
The alliance won the seat for BJP’s Krishan Panwar, who was anyway sure to win, but it also snatched victory for another candidate, Kartikeya Sharma, a media baron and son of former Congress leader Venod Sharma.
Impact on Haryana politics
These election results are bound to have an impact on state politics in the days to come. Bishnoi’s position is clearly compromised in Congress after this cross-voting episode. His entry in BJP, which was in discussion for some time, may be a huge possibility now.
Son of three-time Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, Bishnoi had been upset after the recent rejig in Haryana Congress gave control of the party from Dalit leader Kumari Selja to the camp headed by party’s tall Jat leader Hooda.
If Bishnoi joins BJP, ‘Jat versus non-Jat’ politics in Haryana will get a boost.
Besides, anti-Hooda camps in Congress could also get more vocal, challenging the rationale behind giving control of the whole party in Haryana to a leader who could not manage the victory of Rahul Gandhi aide despite having the numbers.
Talking to The Wire, Bhupinder Hooda said the party just lost by one vote. “Had this vote not been declared invalid, victory was sure for the party’s candidate,” he said.
On speculation that it was Kiran Chaudhary’s vote that was declared invalid, he said he had no idea and that the party’s election observers can comment on this.
On Bishnoi’s cross vote, Hooda said it is for the party to take appropriate decision as he had no comments to make on it.
Hooda’s downfall also suits the Chautalas of JJP who also claim to represent Jats.
Political analyst Vijay Chauhan told The Wire that Congress has paid for its past mistakes. “When in 2016, their MLAs actively helped BJP-backed Zee group owner Subhash Chandra win the Rajya Sabha election, there was no disciplinary action,” Chauhan said.
While Kuldeep Bishnoi may face action, the party’s humiliation is already visible, all adding to BJP’s advantage, he said.
Haryana Congress in-charge Vivek Bansal told media that action will be taken against Bishnoi as party high command has taken cognisance of his cross-voting.
Meanwhile Bishnoi tweeted a cryptic message, “I have the capability to crush snakes’ hood, as I do not leave the jungle in the fear of snakes.”
“फन कुचलने का हुनर आता है मुझे,
सांप के ख़ौफ़ से जंगल नही छोड़ा करते।” सुप्रभात 🙏💪🏼— Kuldeep Bishnoi (@bishnoikuldeep) June 11, 2022
Not only does BJP now have one more MP in the Rajya Sabha, the new alliance between BJP and Venod Sharma would benefit the party in the northern part of Haryana
How did Maken lose?
The total number of seats in the Haryana assembly is 90. After independent MLA Balraj Kundu abstained, this number was reduced to 89.
With three candidates in the fray for two seats – two backed by BJP-JJP and one by Congress – the tension was palpable.
Twenty eight out of 31 MLAs who were put up in a resort in Chhattisgarh for over a week returned before polling and duly cast their votes. Forty BJP MLAs, 10 JJP MLAs, six independents and Abhey Chautala and Gopal Kanda of Haryana Lokhit Party also voted.
Three Congress MLAs, Bhupinder Hooda, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Kiran Chaudhary, were at Chandigarh all along.
Voting got over at the scheduled time, 4 pm. But counting began almost eight hours later after the BJP-JJP camp demanded that two votes of Congress, polled by Kiran Chaudhary and B.B. Batra, be declared invalid.
They claimed that both these Congress MLAs showed their votes to their leaders against rules. Amidst high drama, both camps shouted at each other.
After returning officer, R.K. Nandal, rejected their claims based on video recording, the fight shifted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) office in Delhi.
Delegations of Congress and BJP led by senior leaders presented their claims as counting paused for eight hours before it was started after the decision went in favour of Congress.
Congress claimed victory initially, with Maken even tweeting at around 1 am. He later deleted the tweet.
Panwar won one seat comfortably as BJP had more than enough numbers. Sharma won the second seat with 2,960 vote value. The Congress’s value of votes was pegged at 2,900.
Ultimately, because one Congress vote was declared invalid and because Bishnoi cross-voted, the ruling coalition candidates’ victory was ensured.
