However, the forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls will not have Vidhan Sabha’s secretary RK Nandal as the Returning Officer. In his place, 2003 batch IAS officer Ajit Balaji Joshi will be the Returning Officer.
With Rajya Sabha polling scheduled for March 26 for the vacancy that arose due to the resignation of former Union Minister Birender Singh, the BJP is all set to bag the seat with clear majority because of the numbers on its side. The BJP currently has 40 MLAs, and the support of 10 JJP MLAs. For winning the Rajya Sabha seat, they need 31 MLAs.
However, the forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls will not have Vidhan Sabha’s secretary RK Nandal as the Returning Officer. In his place, 2003 batch IAS officer Ajit Balaji Joshi will be the Returning Officer.
Nandal had got involved in a controversy in 2016 when BJP-backed Independent candidate and media baron Subhash Chandra was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana as 14 Congress votes were rejected, including 12 declared invalid due to “usage of wrong ink pen”. The MLAs are supposed to only vote using the pen provided by the Returning Officer.
This was the same Rajya Sabha election in 2016, when Birender Singh won the other seat, getting re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana for the third time.
Birender Singh’s seat has now fallen vacant after he resigned from the Rajya Sabha membership in January. His resignation was accepted by Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. Birender’s term was due to end on August 1, 2022.
The other two seats on which the elections will be held separately include the one held by INLD’s Ram Kumar Kashyap and Kumari Selja of the Congress.
Kashyap had left INLD and joined BJP in June, 2019. While Kashyap’s seat has fallen vacant after he contested 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls on BJP ticket and was elected from Indri Assembly constituency, Selja’s term is coming to an end on April 9.
The byelection for the seat that feel vacant due to Birender Singh’s resignation shall be held on March 26 from 9 am to 4 pm. While March 13 will be the last date for filing nominations, March 18 will be the last day for withdrawal of nominations.