Nandal said that all MLAs were clearly informed about the instructions regarding polls, adding that it was mentioned that votes need to be marked only using the violet pen provided by the Returning Officer.
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Besides Sibal, the others who made it to the Rajya Sabha from the state are two recent returnees to SP-fold Amar Singh, Beni Prasad Verma, Kuwar Rewati Raman Singh, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, Sukhram Singh Yadav, Sanjay Seth and Surendra Nagar (all SP), Satish Chandra Mishra and Ashok Sidharth (both BSP) and Shiv Pratap Shukla (BJP).
For his part, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Hooda also demanded a probe. “We will fight it politically and legally”, he had said.
The defeat of Anand came as a bolt from the blue for the Congress and its high command, which was confident that its strategy to trounce BJP-backed media baron and independent candidate Subhash Chandra would succeed.
All four Bharatiya Janata Party candidates, including union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and OP Mathur were elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP candidates MJ Akbar and Anil Dave and Congress’ Vivek Tankha were elected, while an independent candidate backed by BJP was defeated.
Ruling BJP emerged as the biggest gainer in the Rajya Sabha elections held on Saturday, while Opposition Congress retained its position as the single largest party in the Upper House of Parliament.
The Congress suffered a setback when well-known lawyer and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) nominee R. K. Anand, who was backed by it, lost to media moghul Subhash Chandra, who was supported by the BJP, in Haryana, thanks to 14 invalid votes.
He was also miffed that Mr Kumaraswamy had chosen a candidate belonging to the minority community for Rajya Sabha elections, and had spoken about how such a move would help end his career during a conversation with independent legislators.
The rebel MLAs who faced action are Zameer Ahmed Khan, Chaluvaraya Swamy, Iqbal Ansari, Balakrishna, Ramesh Bandisiddegowda, Gopalaiah, Bheema Nayak and Akhanda Srinivas Murthy who had voted forCongress party’s third candidate for RajyaSabhaK C Ramamurthy, paving the way for his resounding victory securing 52 votesaided by them and Independents.
It was a harder and more humiliating blow for JD (S) as 8 MLAs indulged in cross-voting as against the expected five.
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“We will meet Election Commission tomorrow (Monday) to protest against the misuse of government machinery”, he said. He polled 15 votes. During the Budget session, the Congress had 64 members as against BJP’s 49. “They have joined hands with Congress to win the second seat in the Council elections”, he said.
