Congress’ Abhishek Singhvi challenges Rajya Sabha polls loss through draw of lots in High Court
In February, Singhvi had lost the election to a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in a draw of lots following a tie in the number of votes they received.
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Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi on Saturday moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court challenging the returning officer’s decision to declare the winner of the Rajya Sabha elections in the state in February through a draw of lots, Live Law reported.
On February 28, Singhvi had lost the election to the Upper House to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Harsh Mahajan. Only one Rajya Sabha seat in the state was up for election.
At that point, the Congress had 40 MLAs in the 68-member Assembly. While the BJP had 25 seats, the remaining three members were independents. The Rajya Sabha election resulted in a tie with both candidates securing 34 votes.
After the tie, the names of Singhvi and Mahajan were written on separate slips and placed into a box, as per Rule 75 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. This was in the presence of the candidates and the polling agents. One slip was randomly drawn from the box.
The slip had Singhvi’s name. Singhvi was then eliminated from the selection process, leading the returning officer to declare Mahajan as the winner. Mahajan was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha MP on April 3.
Singhvi has challenged this decision of the returning officer.
Rule 75 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, deals with the counting of votes where only one seat is...
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