Chandigarh: BJP has cracked the whip ahead of the Haryana Rajya Sabha elections, directing all its MLAs to report to Chandigarh this weekend for a tightly controlled “voting drill,” sources told The Financial World.
The move is aimed at ensuring that the party’s numerical advantage in the Assembly translates into a flawless voting exercise, and potentially opens the door for both seats to effectively land in the BJP’s kitty.
The directive comes as the party appears keen to replicate a political script that has worked for it twice before in Haryana—in 2016 and again in 2022—when candidates backed by BJP clinched victories in dramatic contests despite the opposition appearing numerically comfortable on paper.
The Assembly arithmetic partly explains the urgency. In the 90-member Haryana House, BJP has 48 MLAs while Congress has 37. The remaining members include legislators from INLD, JJP and Independents. With two Rajya Sabha seats up for election and the winning quota fixed at 31 votes, BJP’s official candidate Sanjay Bhatia is comfortably placed to secure one seat.
The real contest revolves around the second seat involving Congress candidate Karamvir Singh Baudh and BJP-backed Independent Satish Nandal. After ensuring Bhatia’s victory, BJP will still have 17 surplus votes—numbers that could prove decisive if strategically deployed.
A BJP MLA, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the directive to assemble in Chandigarh. “We have been told to report in Chandigarh and remain available through the weekend. The message is clear—no mistakes during voting. Even a small slip while marking the ballot can change the entire equation,” the legislator said.
BJP’s Haryana playbook
In 2016, media baron Subhash Chandra, an Independent backed by BJP, pulled off a stunning victory after 14 votes were cancelled during the Rajya Sabha election, dramatically altering the result.
A similar twist unfolded in 2022 when Congress candidate Ajay Maken appeared comfortably placed until counting began. The equation shifted after a Congress MLA’s vote was rejected due to a technical marking error, while another MLA, Kuldeep Bishnoi, cross-voted in favour of Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, who was backed by BJP.
Those developments overturned the expected result and allowed Sharma to clinch victory.
Political observers now see echoes of that strategy in the entry of Satish Nandal as a BJP-backed Independent candidate in the current contest.
Why the BJP is running a “Voting Drill”
Despite holding a clear majority in the Assembly, the BJP leadership appears unwilling to leave anything to chance. MLAs are being briefed on the precise procedure for marking preference votes and following the open-ballot requirement—technical details that have led to votes being cancelled in past Haryana Rajya Sabha contests.
The party is also keen to ensure that none of its surplus votes are wasted through procedural errors. Keeping MLAs together in Chandigarh ahead of the vote also helps insulate them from any last-minute political outreach by rival camps.
The real target
On paper, Congress candidate Karamvir Singh Baudh appears well placed with the backing of the party’s 37 MLAs. But Haryana’s Rajya Sabha elections have repeatedly shown that numbers on paper can unravel quickly.
If BJP manages its surplus votes effectively behind Nandal while avoiding technical lapses, the contest could once again produce a familiar Haryana outcome—where the ruling party walks away with both seats.
