Counting on hold in Haryana as BJP seeks cancellation of two Cong votes

CHANDIGARH: BJP-JJP backed independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma wrote to the Election Commission of India, demanding the cancellation of votes of Congress MLAs Kiran Choudhry and BB Batra, due to "violation of the secrecy of votes in the Conduct of Election Rules 1961".

Congress candidate from Haryana, Ajay Maken wrote to the Election Commission of India, stating that the demand raised by BJP-JJP backed independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma be quashed and the results are declared at the earliest.

The counting of votes in Haryana is currently on hold. BJP met the Election Commission this evening over Haryana and Maharashtra, asking that "this election be declared null and void on basis of broken rules of secrecy in voting" Of the total 90 members of the Haryana Assembly, 89 cast their votes, officials said at the end of the polling, which began at 9 am. In Haryana, the need for polls arises as three candidates have filed nominations for two Rajya Sabha seats.

The Congress party has nominated senior leader Ajay Maken while the BJP has fielded former minister Krishan Lal Panwar. Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma is also in the fray.

Both the BJP-JJP alliance and Congress legislators were shifted to resorts to slash possibilities of poaching. While the BJP-JJP alliance has lodged their MLAs in a resort in Chandigarh, the Congress leaders were moved to a resort in Delhi.

The polling to elect the members of the Upper House of the Parliament on 16 Rajya Sabha seats spread across four states will take place today amid speculations of horse-trading and fears of cross-voting. Polling is set to begin at 9 am and will conclude at 4 pm.

Notably, all 41 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Telangana were elected unopposed on Friday after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently.

However, polling for the 16 seats spread across states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Karnataka will be held today due to the number of candidates exceeding the seats.

Some prominent leaders, whose fates will be decided at 5 pm when the counting of the votes will take place, include Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala and Mukul Wasnik.