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Maken has challenged Sharma’s victory because a vote cast by an Independent MLA which should have been declared invalid, was accepted.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Rajya Sabha MP Kartikeya Sharma in a plea filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken. Maken has challenged Sharma’s election in the recent Rajya Sabha polls.
Sharma, an independent candidate, won the Rajya Sabha election after being backed by BJP & JJP. He received 29.6 votes against Maken’s 29 votes.
Maken has alleged that vote cast in favour of Sharma should have been rejected as it was not marked in the column where the preference was to be marked. According to Maken, if the vote was counted as invalid, it would have changed the outcome of the results of election.
It has further been alleged that Kartikeya Sharma's victory was because of a vote cast by a ruling combine MLA, which should have been declared as invalid, but was accepted.
Maken in his challenge has said that their agent till the end kept telling that 30 “single preference” votes were polled in their favour but “single preference” votes turned out to be 29.
Congress had 31 MLAs in the 90-member state assembly, which was enough to secure Maken a Rajya Sabha seat. However, former Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi cross-voted, while one MLA’s vote was declared invalid which led to his loss in the Rajya Sabha election.
Justice H S Madaan of Punjab & Haryana High Court issued notice in Maken’s plea and made it returnable on September 19, 2022.
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