Satish Nandal, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 assembly elections as a BJP candidate, on Thursday filed his nomination as an Independent for the Rajya Sabha polls from Haryana. With his entry, the contest now has three candidates — BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Congress’ Karamvir Singh Boudh and Nandal.
Before Nandal filed his papers, Bhatia and Boudh had already submitted their nominations here on the last day of filing for the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana. The terms of BJP MPs Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra will end on April 9.
With Nandal entering the fray, the Rajya Sabha election in the state is likely to see a more interesting contest. Nandal had earlier contested the 2019 assembly elections from the Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi seat in Rohtak district. He had lost the election to Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
When asked whether he was still with the BJP, Nandal told mediapersons that he currently holds the position of state vice president in the party.
BJP candidate Bhatia, 58, is considered close to Union minister and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Boudh is a retired Haryana government employee and a Dalit activist. He has raised issues related to the Dalit community on several platforms. He is currently the coordinator of the National Scheduled Castes department of the Congress.
While filing his nomination, Nandal was accompanied by Independent MLAs Savitri Jindal, Rajesh Joon and Devender Kadyan. All three are supporting the government led by Nayab Singh Saini in the state.
After filing his nomination, Nandal said he would approach all MLAs, regardless of party affiliation, to seek their support in the election. Kadyan said the three Independent MLAs felt their voice should also be heard at the national level in Delhi. He added that after discussions with several like-minded MLAs, they persuaded Nandal to contest the Rajya Sabha election. Jindal also said the three Independent MLAs are backing Nandal and hope he wins the election and raises their concerns in the Rajya Sabha.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 48 MLAs while the Congress has 37. The INLD has two MLAs, apart from the three Independents.
Bhatia was accompanied by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli and other party leaders while filing his papers. Before filing the papers, Bhatia also met Saini at his residence here.
Saini congratulated Bhatia after he was announced as the BJP candidate for the Rajya Sabha election. "I met senior BJP leader and former MP from Karnal, respected Sanjay Bhatia ji at Sant Kabir Kutir and extended my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to him on being declared the Rajya Sabha candidate from Haryana. Your vast experience and dedication towards public service will play an important role in furthering the interests of the state in the Upper House," Saini posted on X.
Bhatia thanked the party leadership for choosing him as a Rajya Sabha candidate. He said he would try his best to meet the expectations of both the party and the people.
Before filing his nomination, Boudh also spoke to reporters and thanked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for trusting him. He was accompanied by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala, state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh and party general secretary in-charge of Haryana B K Hariprasad. The Congress had announced Boudh’s name as its candidate on the last day of filing nominations.
Surjewala said that by nominating Boudh, the Congress has once again shown that it stands with the exploited and deprived sections and gives priority to leaders who work at the grassroots level.
Boudh had earlier sought the Congress ticket for the 2024 assembly elections from the reserved Mullana seat. However, the party gave the ticket to Pooja Chaudhary, wife of Ambala MP Varun Chaudhary, who later won the seat.
Sources said that by fielding Boudh in the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress has tried to balance caste equations in the state.
In the Haryana Congress unit, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda belongs to the Jat community, while state Congress chief Rao Narender Singh comes from the OBC community.
The Election Commission issued the notification for the polls on February 26. If required, voting will take place on March 16 between 9 am and 4 pm, and counting will begin at 5 pm the same day.
The last date for filing nominations is March 5. Scrutiny will take place on March 6, while candidates can withdraw their nominations until March 9. As per the Election Commission schedule, 37 Rajya Sabha seats from 10 states — including Haryana, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — will fall vacant on April 2 and April 9.
In August 2024, Kiran Choudhry was elected unopposed in a Rajya Sabha bypoll from Haryana. She had joined the BJP before the October 2024 assembly elections after leaving the Congress.
The bypoll was held after Deepender Singh Hooda was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak. His Rajya Sabha term was due to end on April 9.
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