High-voltage political contest marked by allegation of violation of vote secrecy, suspense, and late-night developments, Sanjay Bhatia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress were declared elected to two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana in the early hours after a dramatic day of voting and controversy.
The elections witnessed intense political drama, with counting of votes beginning only after a delay of nearly 5.5 hours due to complaints from both the BJP and the Congress alleging violations of vote secrecy. Originally scheduled for 5 pm after polling ended at 4 pm, counting eventually began late in the evening, with results declared around 2 am.
While Bhatia’s victory was largely seen as certain, the second seat turned into a nail-biting contest. Boudh secured a narrow win against BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal, underlining the fiercely competitive nature of the election. Of the two seats, one went to the BJP and the other to the Congress.
Congress secures victory by a razor-thin margin
Out of 90 MLAs, voting saw 83 valid votes, after 2 Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLAs abstained, 4 Congress votes were declared invalid, and 1 BJP vote was invalidated.
As per the proportional representation formula, a candidate needed a vote value of 2,767 to secure victory.
Vote Value | Formula for Victory: 83 (Total Valid Votes) x 100 / (Number of Seats + 1)
To win the election, a candidate required a quota of 27.66 votes.
- Boudh (Congress): 28 votes | Vote value: 2,800
- Bhatia (BJP): 39 votes | Vote value: 3,900
- Nandal (Independent): 16 votes | Vote value: 2,733.33
Boudh’s victory came by a wafer-thin margin of just 0.33 vote value, making it one of the closest Rajya Sabha contests in recent times. Since both Bhatia and Boudh crossed the required quota, second preference votes were not counted for Nandal. Thus, a total of 83 valid votes were counted, carrying a cumulative vote value of 8300.
Notably, had the INLD not boycotted the election and instead cast its votes in favor of independent candidate, the Congress could have suffered a defeat, potentially paving the way for a victory by the BJP-backed independent candidate.
Haryana CM congratulates winning candidates
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, in a late-night press conference, congratulated both the leaders on their win and launched a sharp attack on the Congress, accusing it of distrusting its own MLAs and keeping them confined ahead of the polls.
“I would like to extend my congratulations to both the BJP and Congress candidates. This has been an extremely interesting election; for the first time in history, I witnessed a situation where the Congress party lacked faith in its own MLAs. The Congress party kept its MLAs confined, shuttling them between various locations,” he said.
Saini claimed that five Congress MLAs cross-voted. “Four of the Congress MLAs’ votes were declared invalid”, he said.
Targeting the INLD, the Chief Minister said the party acted as a “‘B-team” of the Congress by abstaining instead of backing the Independent candidate. “The independent candidate lost by one vote. Nearly 9 votes from Congress went to the independent candidate. 25% of Congress MLAs have switched sides,” he said.
It’s our victory: Bhupinder Singh Hooda
On the other hand, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda termed the result a victory of democracy. “This is a victory of ‘Prajatantar’ (democracy) and defeat of ‘vote chori’,” said Hooda as he, along with other party leaders, including Boudh, Deepender Hooda, showed victory signs.
Hooda said that from the beginning, one seat each belonged to Congress and the BJP.
But they tried for “vote theft” for the third candidate, Hooda alleged. He added that the conduct of the returning officer was partisan.
Boudh thanked the party’s central leadership, Hooda, and other state leaders after he got elected.
Haryana Rajya Sabha polls 2026
BJP’s Bhatia (58), Karamvir Singh Boudh (61) of the Congress and Independent candidate Satish Nandal (63) were in the fray for the two seats. The BJP-backed Nandal had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly polls as its nominee.
The BJP has 48 MLAs, the Congress has 37, the INLD has two MLAs, and three legislators are Independents in the 90-member Haryana assembly.
The two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana fell vacant as BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are set to complete their terms on April 9.
Nandal had lost to Congress leader Hooda from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi constituency in Rohtak district in the 2019 assembly polls. Before joining the BJP, he was also with the INLD.
BJP candidate Bhatia is a former Lok Sabha MP from Karnal.
Congress’s Boudh, a retired Haryana government employee, has been a Dalit activist who has raised issues pertaining to the community on various platforms.
