BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate from HP got elected although he too failed to secure sufficient quota-HC Advocate - Punjabi News

Published on: 29 Feb 2024 at 10:12 AM

BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate from HP got elected although he too failed to secure sufficient quota-HC Advocate

Published by: thefactnews

The Fact News Service

Chandigarh, February 29

Amid the ongoing political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, Hemant Kumar, Advocate in Punjab and Haryana High Court claimed that BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate from HP got elected although he too failed to secure sufficient quota.

“Despite BJP being the (principal) opposition party in Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly with merely 25 seats in the House with total strength of 68 vis-a-vis the ruling Congress whose tally is 40 while three other being Independent MLAs, the candidate fielded by the saffron party, Harsh Mahajan, in the Biennial Election for one seat of Rajya Sabha (Council of States) from the State got elected with 34 votes courtesy cross-voting by half a dozen Cong party legislators along with votes of all three Independents. The Congress candidate, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who too got 34 votes i.e. equal to BJP’s Mahajan but the former lost the battle in the (draw of) lot which is the mechanism being employed by the Returning Officer (R.O.) in case of tie of votes,” said Hemant Kumar.

He added that nevertheless luck favoured BJP’s nominee Mahajan in tie-breaker i.e. draw of lot but the interesting yet significant legal point is that even he has not been able to attain quota sufficient for election which in the case at hand was 35.

While quoting Rule 75 of Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 which pertains to counting of votes where only one seat is to be filled, Hemant added that in case of 68 member Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, when all 68 MLAs voted in Rajya Sabha Biennial Election for one seat and all such votes were valid, then as per ibid Rule, the quota sufficient to get elected was 35 i.e one more than 34-34 votes as got by both BJP and Cong nominees.