Chandigarh, March 19 The Haryana Congress Legislature Party on Thursday submitted a memorandum to the Governor and apprised him about the alleged collusion between the BJP and the Election Officer during the elections for two Rajya Sabha seats.
The memorandum stated that the Legislative Assembly comprised 90 members, including 48 from the BJP, 37 from the Congress, 2 from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and 3 Independent MLAs.
A minimum of 31 votes was required to secure one Rajya Sabha seat.
Under normal circumstances, both the BJP and the Congress were poised to win one seat each. However, in an unexpected move, the BJP fielded its own Vice-President, Satish Nandal, as an Independent candidate, a move supported by seven BJP MLAs who acted as proposers.
The Congress termed “this a clear instance of political horse-trading, inducement, intimidation, institutional pressure, and misuse of government machinery by the ruling party”.
The memorandum pointed out that the Election Officer (Returning Officer), Pankaj Agarwal, played a biased and partisan role.
It claimed that 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 Congress also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission regarding this matter.
The Congress Legislature Party requested the Governor, in his capacity as the constitutional guardian of the state, to order an inquiry into this “unethical and undemocratic conduct, to direct the government to uphold democratic values, decency, and discipline, and to ensure that appropriate disciplinary action is taken against the Election Officer”.
“This incident not only undermines the dignity of the Haryana legislative Assembly but also raises serious questions regarding the credibility of democracy across the entire nation. The Congress, standing shoulder to shoulder with the people of the state, will continue its struggle against this anti-democratic conspiracy. The Governor has taken cognisance of the matter and has assured that appropriate action will be taken,” Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Hooda told the media.
Legislator Bharat Bhushan Batra said the BJP had fielded a third candidate solely to rig the election.
“It is evident that the second candidate, too, belonged to the BJP. Consequently, the BJP hatched a conspiracy to ensure the victory of its second candidate by any means necessary, employing a strategy involving persuasion, inducement, coercion, and division,” Hooda added.
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