BJP wins both RS candidates in Haryana
According to details shared by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, while one Congress vote was rejected, Kuldeep Bishnoi (Congress MLA from Adampur) “voted as per his inner conscience” and “did not vote for Congress nominee Ajay Maken.”
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Chandigarh, Jun 11: The dramatic twists and turns in the Rajya Sabha polling for two seats in Haryana ended in the early hours of Saturday, with the Election Commission (EC) declaring BJP’s nominee Krishan Panwar and BJP-JJP backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma victorious. Congress’s Ajay Maken lost to Sharma.
According to details shared by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, while one Congress vote was rejected, Kuldeep Bishnoi (Congress MLA from Adampur) “voted as per his inner conscience” and “did not vote for Congress nominee Ajay Maken.”
“All the Congress MLAs cast their votes by showing it to their election agent. I am sure Kuldeep Bishnoi also must have done that. Yet, it is welcome that he supported our candidate and voted to listen to his inner conscience. He has shown faith in the principles and policies of the BJP. He did not even think about what his party is going to do with him after this, but he cast his vote after listening to his heart and mind. We welcome him,” Khattar said on Bishnoi. Regarding the Congress’ rejected vote, Khattar said, “It is for the Congress to tell us all. I am not yet aware whose vote was rejected.” Replying to the media’s queries on the strategy the Congress followed by keeping its MLAs at a five-star resort in Raipur from June 2 till June 9, ahead of the polls, Khattar said, “This shows the kind of training that they gave to their MLAs for over seven days and yet failed. We, too, gave training to our MLAs for one day and we passed. It is our one day versus their seven days.” Explaining the mathematics of counting, Khattar said, “Out of the total 90 MLAs, one Independent MLA abstained, while one Congress vote was rejected. That left 88 votes. According to the rule, any two who could make it above the mark of one-third of 88 would have won. Congress got 29, while Kartikeya Sharma got 29.65 votes. He got 23 and Krishan Panwar’s 6.65 votes were transferred to Kartikeya Sharma making him victorious.”
At around 1.30 am, when the Chief Election Commission gave permission for the counting of votes, the Congress began celebrating. However, when the party was told its candidate Ajay Maken had lost, it demanded a recount.
“Although the Congress did not demand a recounting in writing, officials of the EC were gracious enough to accept their demand. As such, counting 88 votes would not have taken much time. The recounting was done and Kartikeya Sharma won while Ajay Maken lost,” Khattar added.