Haryana Congress Alleges Political Horse-Trading in Rajya Sabha Elections

Chandigarh: The members of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Thursday met governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh alleging serious irregularities in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections for two seats, and submitted a memorandum in this regard. Led by leader of Opposition (LoP) Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the CLP members said in the memorandum that in the 90-member assembly, there are 48 MLAs from the BJP, 37 from the Congress, two from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and there are three Independent MLAs, and thus a minimum of 31 votes was required to secure one Rajya Sabha seat. Stating that under normal circumstances, both the BJP and the Congress were poised to win one seat each, they held in the memorandum that BJP in an unexpected move, fielded its own vice president, Satish Nandal, as an independent candidate - a move supported by seven BJP MLAs who acted as proposers. Let us know! 👂 What type of content would you like to see from us this year? Alleging that this as a clear instance of political horse-trading, inducement, intimidation, institutional pressure, and misuse of government machinery by the ruling BJP, the memorandum also accused the election officer (Returning Officer), Pankaj Agarwal, of playing a biased and partisan role. ``He declared the valid votes cast by Congress MLAs as invalid, accepted votes cast in favour of the BJP and the independent candidate, and deliberately disregarded all valid objections raised by the Congress's vote-counting agents’’, the CLP members further alleged in the memorandum adding that the Congress also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission regarding this matter. Also Watch: Stating that the CLP urged the governor to order an inquiry into this, they also urged him to direct the government to uphold democratic values and discipline, and to ensure that appropriate disciplinary action is taken against the election officer. Later while addressing newspersons, Hooda also alleged that this incident not only undermined the dignity of the Haryana Legislative Assembly but also raised serious questions regarding the credibility of democracy across the nation.