After losing Himachal Rajya Sabha poll, Abhishek Manu Singhvi challenges ‘flawed’ lottery system in high court
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TNR Desk
All India Congress Committee spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi has challenged in the Himachal Pradesh High Court the practice of determining a winner through draw of lots in case of a tie during the Rajya Sabha elections.
Speaking to journalists after filing the petition, Singhvi argued that it was legally incorrect to declare loser a candidate in whose name a slip is drawn during the draw od lots in the event of an election tie.
Singhvi had lost to BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan during the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal on February 27 through the draw of lots. Both Singhvi and Mahajan got 34 votes each after six Congress rebel MLAs cross-voted for the BJP while the three independent legislators too backed the saffron party. The BJP tally rose from 25 votes to 34 after it got the support of nine MLAs.
Singhvi asserted that typically, the candidate whose name was drawn should be declared the winner. “Therefore, if this assumption is flawed, the election result itself becomes erroneous. While there is no such legal rule, the perception of it has been challenged in high court,” he said.
Having 40 MLAs in the 68-member Vidhan Sabha, the Congress was confident of its victory, but the six dissidents dealt it a blow by cross-voting for the BJP. Not only did Singhvi lose the election, but the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government was also reduced to a minority in the Assembly.
The six rebel MLAs — Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), ID Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret), Davinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar) and Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti) — have since been disqualified from the Assembly. The byelections to these six seats are to be held alongside the Himachal Lok Sabha elections on June 1. The BJP has fielded all the six Congress turncoats in the Assembly byelections.
