Cross-Voting in RS Polls: BJP Candidate Harsh Mahajan Elected from Himachal after Draw of Lots

BJP's Harsh Mahajan, a Congress rebel who was once known for his proximity to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu, got elected to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday by defeating Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi amid reports of cross-voting by at least six ruling party legislators. Both the candidates secured 34 votes each in the 68-member House, including three Independent legislators who are believed to have voted in favour of the BJP. Mahajan was eventually declared the winner through draw of lots.

Shimla: Congress faced a massive setback in Himachal Pradesh as BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan on Tuesday won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state after six Congress MLAs cross-voted, defeating grand old party's Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The contest was tied at 34-34 votes, after which Mahajan was declared winner by draw of lots. It is a major jolt for the Congress which has 40 MLAs in the 68-member state assembly and claimed support of the independents. The result made it clear that nine MLAs (including 3 independents) voted in favour of the BJP which was confident that Congress MLAs would exercise 'conscience vote'. At present, the BJP has 25 MLAs in the state assembly.

Adding salt to Congress' wounds, BJP leader and LoP Jai Ram Thakur has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, claiming that the Congress has been reduced to minority following its defeat in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Earlier in the day, the polling, which began at 9 am, ended with Congress MLA from Chintpurni Sudershan Babloo casting the last vote. The polling was brisk and all 68 members voted. Independent MLA from Hamipur Ashish was the first to cast his vote. Congress MLA Babloo was brought to the Assembly in a helicopter as he was unwell. Chief Minister Sukhu after casting his vote said the MLAs have voted "as per the ideology of the party".

"We have 40 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha and unless MLAs are bought off, we will get all the votes," he said before the results were yet to be declared. "...We issued Whip, but they didn't have the majority. We had to do the voting. In a way BJP has tried to threaten our leaders, Congress Party strongly condemns it," he said.

Sukhu further added, "During the cut-motion, the opposition leader Jairam Thakur put the matter. Jagat Negi presented our matter when talks could not happen, in a way BJP behaved was condemnable, post that ruckus occurred and House was adjourned."

Asked if the State BJP will demand a Floor Test, LoP Thakur said, "Budget will be presented tomorrow. We will discuss the Budget tomorrow and then we will see the situation there. But I can see that the Government has lost the majority."

The BJP had fielded Mahajan against Congress candidate Singhvi. Mahajan, a three-time Congress MLA and former minister, had resigned from the party in September 2022 ahead of the assembly polls and joined the BJP. If it for cross-voting, Congress had a clear majority with 40 out of the 68 MLAs and the support of three independent MLAs.

Despite the fact that the BJP, with 25 MLAs, was far behind in the number game, it forced a contest by fielding Mahajan against Singhvi. The Congress had issued a whip to its MLAs to vote for Singhvi followingwhich the BJP had accused the ruling Congress of issuing whip to their members to pressurise them and maintained that the MLAs have been elected democratically and have the right to vote as per their wish.

The BJP candidate sent a complaint to the chief election commissioner drawing his attention to the three line whip issued by the Congress to vote for the party candidate. In his complaint, Mahajan said that such a whip is not only unethical but also against the conducting of elections to the Rajya Sabha as it will affect the decision making ability of the MLAs.

Numbers in Himachal

In Himachal Pradesh Assembly of 68 MLAs, 40 are from Congress and 25 are from BJP. Apart from this, there are 3 independent MLAs. The Rajya Sabha candidate needs the votes of 35 MLAs to win. While Congress was certain to win, 'cross voting' by 9 MLAs in favour of BJP candidate changed the equation and both candidates got 34 votes each.

Draw of lots followed by a tie

According to Himachal Chief Electoral Officer Manish Garg, if the number of votes is equal, the process of 'draw of lots' will be adopted. In this, consent of both the candidates will be taken. Since the situation arose in Himachal Pradesh, slips were put in the names of both the candidates and BJP candidate's name came out.

About a month ago, at the time of announcement of Rajya Sabha elections, this seat of Himachal Pradesh seemed to be going straight to the Congress, but BJP made the contest interesting by fielding its candidate on the last day of nomination.

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