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2 seats, 3 candidates: Independent’s entry sparks cross-voting fears in Haryana Rajya Sabha polls
The BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Congress’s Karamvir Singh Baudh, and Independent candidate Satish Nandal filed their nominations for two Haryana Rajya Sabha seats.
While Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and top state BJP leaders accompanied Bhatia to file his nomination, Baudh was accompanied by Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several Congress MLAs.
The battle for two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana turned interesting on Thursday with an Independent candidate, Satish Nandal, also filing his nomination. Nandal joins BJP nominee Sanjay Bhatia, former Karnal MP and close confidant of former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and Congress’s Karamvir Singh Baudh.
While Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and top state BJP leaders accompanied Bhatia to file his nomination, Baudh was accompanied by Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several Congress MLAs. Independent MLAs Savitri Jindal, Devender Kadiyan, and Rajesh Joon were seen with Nandal.
The two Rajya Sabha seats becoming vacant are currently held by the BJP. The tenure of Ram Chandra Jangra, who was elected unopposed and became an MP in March 2020, will end on April 9, 2026. Kiran Choudhry was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha in a by-election on August 27, 2024. This seat became vacant after Congress’s Deepender Hooda resigned following his election as MP from Rohtak.
Congress sources told The Indian Express that Baudh’s name was finalised by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. Baudh, who will be fighting his first political battle, belongs to the Scheduled Caste community and had played a vital role in protests that sparked across Haryana last year after the death of IPS officer Y Puran Kumar. “I thank the party high command for giving me this opportunity,” he said after filing his nomination papers.
Nandal, a resident of Kiloi village in Rohtak—the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi Assembly constituency is represented by Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha—reached the Assembly around 2 pm. Before filing, Nandal said, “Fellow MLAs felt there should also be an independent candidate, which is why I decided to file my nomination papers.”
With three candidates now in the fray, the possibility of cross-voting has increased. Baudh, however, dismissed the possibility. “All the 37 Congress MLAs are with me,” he emphasised.
How the math works
With 90 valid votes in the Haryana Assembly and two seats to be filled, the winning quota works out to 31. This means any candidate needs at least 31 votes to secure a seat.
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If the BJP and the Congress each put up one candidate, both can comfortably cross the threshold—the BJP with its 48 MLAs and Congress with 37—ensuring one seat each. The leftover votes (17 for BJP, six for Congress, plus three Independents and two INLD) add up to 28, which is still short of the 31 required.
With Nandal entering the fray, it means that the surplus votes and potential cross-voting could come into play on March 16, when the Rajya Sabha elections will be held.
The candidates:
Karamvir Singh Baudh
Karamvir Singh Baudh is a resident of Ambala. He retired about four years ago from the Haryana Civil Secretariat as an administrative officer (ADO). His wife works as an assistant in the labour department. In the Secretariat, Baudh used to oversee procurement matters and also served as a caretaker.
According to party sources, Baudh is not linked to either of the factions within the Haryana Congress. “Since his name came straight from the party high command, the entire party and all the MLAs shall be supporting him”, a senior Congress leader told The Indian Express. Baudh had also been actively involved in the Congress’s ‘Save the Constitution campaign’ led by Rahul Gandhi and had participated in various programmes at the grassroots level.
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Coming from the Scheduled Caste community, he is being seen as an important candidate from the perspective of social representation. Party sources added that he had also been actively associated with Gandhi’s social media team.
Sanjay Bhatia
Sanjay Bhatia is a former MP from Karnal. His political career includes serving as the state general secretary at the BJP from 2015 to 2021 in Haryana and as the former chairman of the Haryana Khadi and Village Industries Board.
His political journey began during his student years through active participation in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. As the state general secretary, he was instrumental in strengthening party operations, coordinating grassroots activities, and expanding the party’s outreach across the state.
In 2019, Bhatia was elected to the 17th Lok Sabha as an MP from Karnal. During his tenure, he participated in parliamentary proceedings and served on committees related to national governance matters. The BJP also entrusted him with organisational assignments in other regions, including responsibilities related to internal party processes in Jammu and Kashmir.
Satish Nandal
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Satish Nandal was previously associated with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and later joined the BJP in 2019. He had also served as the BJP’s state vice-president in Haryana. He first contested the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections against Hooda from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in 2009 but lost. In 2014, he contested from the same constituency, but as an INLD candidate, and lost. He joined the BJP in 2019 and contested against Hooda for the third time as BJP, only to lose again. Nandal is in the construction business.
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