Setback for Harsh Mahajan: Himachal Pradesh HC refuses to reject Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s Rajya Sabha poll plea

Advocate Thakur told The Indian Express, “The court rejected our plea challenging the maintainability of Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s petition on the grounds that we can file our objections during the hearing of Singhvi’s main petition. The court has given us two weeks to file the plea during the hearing of the main plea.”

On April 6, Congress leader Singhvi filed a petition in the high court challenging the election officer’s interpretation of the draw of lots rules after the polls were tied.

BJP nominee Mahajan won the February 27 election through a draw of lots after both candidates secured 34 votes each. Mahajan was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha member on April 3.

“There is nothing in the law, neither in the act nor in the rules, which compels an interpretation that requires the person whose name is drawn in the draw of lots to be a loser. This interpretation is wrong, and the result of an election based on this interpretation is also wrong,” Singhvi had told reporters after filing his petition in the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

When the lone Rajya Sabha seat elections were held on February 27, the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh had 40 MLAs. The BJP, with 25 members in the House, fielded Congress turncoat Mahajan against Singhvi. Six Congress members cross-voted in favour of Mahajan, who also secured the votes of three Independent MLAs. With both candidates tied at 34 votes each, Mahajan was declared the winner after Singhvi’s name was drawn in the draw of lots.

The Conduct of Election Rules has a provision for a draw of lots for both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha elections. The key difference in the draw of lots in both elections is that in Rajya Sabha polls, the candidate whose slip is drawn loses the election, whereas in the Lok Sabha, the candidate whose slip is drawn wins.

Following the Rajya Sabha election, a crisis erupted in the Congress, leading to the Assembly Speaker disqualifying the six party MLAs who had voted in favour of Mahajan. The Speaker, however, made it clear that the MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Chaitanya Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, and Devinder Kumar — were disqualified for not following the Congress whip to vote in favour of the cut motion and the budget in the Assembly.

All six joined the BJP were fielded from their respective constituencies for the bypolls to the Assembly seats that were held on June 1, along with the Lok Sabha polls for four seats.

The three Independent MLAs — Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma, and KL Thakur — also resigned from the Assembly on March 22 and joined the BJP. Later, Hoshyar Singh and KL Thakur lost the bypolls, while Ashish Sharma won from Hamirpur.