Chandigarh: After being elected to the Rajya Sabha as an independent candidate from Haryana, chairman of Essel Group of Companies and noted philanthropist, Subhash Chandra, on Saturday assured that he would raise the issues in the interest of the state during his tenure in the Upper House.
However, the election was not without controversy as 12 votes were rejected by the Returning Officer for being marked with unauthorized pens.
“I would like to thank all 90 legislators (of the Haryana Assembly) and I would like to assure the people of Haryana that during my tenure in Rajya Sabha, I will work towards the betterment of Haryana. I was born and raised in Haryana, but my work took me across the globe. Along with keeping Haryana’s interests in mind, I have to also keep the interest of the nation in mind,” Chandra told media after his victory was declared.
He rubbished the notion that he won the elections due to money power.
“Lot of people have said earlier that Subhash ji has a lot of money and will win elections using money. All those are wrong. My people and I have spent on travelling and staying in Haryana Niwas, other than that I had deposited Rs. 10, 000, which I would get back. So I haven’t spent much,” he said.
The Haryana results were to be declared around 5 pm but the counting process was delayed due to objections raised by the ruling BJP, the opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and some independents.
According to reports, the state’s ruling BJP has backed Chandra who garnered a total of 29 votes.
After scrutiny, the Election Commission declared 14 Congress votes as invalid – a key factor that led to Chandra’s easy victory.
“In today’s elections Birender Singh and Subhash Chandra have been declared as winners. A total of 90 votes were polled, one vote was rejected during polls for marking wrongly. Out of the 89 votes, 13 votes were rejected during scrutiny and counting,” Assembly Secretary and Returning Officer R.K. Nandal told ANI.
Nandal said that all MLAs were clearly informed about the instructions regarding polls, adding that it was mentioned that votes need to be marked only using the violet pen provided by the Returning Officer.
“If any other article is used then the vote is rejected,” he said.
“12 votes were rejected as they were marked by unauthorized articles. Out of 14 rejected votes, 12 were due to unathorised makings used, one was blank and another was rejected during polls,” he added.
Seven states went to polls today to elect 27 Rajya Sabha members.
These include 11 seats from Uttar Pradesh, four each from Karnataka and Rajasthan, three from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Haryana and Jharkhand and one from Uttarakhand. (ANI)