Abhishek Manu Singhvi moves Himachal HC challenging defeat in RS polls

Shimla: Congress’ Rajya Sabha election nominee from Himachal Pradesh and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday filed a petition in the Himachal Pradesh High Court, challenging the rule of declaring the victory of his rival candidate of the BJP by draw of lots.

He said if two candidates get an equal number of votes, then the formula for drawing the lottery is wrong.

Singhvi told the media here in case of equal votes, declaring the candidate whose slip comes out as the loser is legally wrong. “There is no law that the person whose name is drawn in the draw of lots is a loser.”

“Generally, the one whose name comes out should win. Therefore, if this assumption is wrong then the election result is also wrong. There is no such rule in law, but a perception of the rule has been challenged in the court,” Singhvi clarified.

Justifying his self-appearance, Singhvi said to file such a petition the petitioner has to come to the court self is the rule.

BJP’s Harsh Mahajan, a Congress rebel who was once known for his proximity to the then Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu, got elected to the Rajya Sabha on February 27 by defeating Singhvi amid reports of cross-voting by at least six ruling party legislators.

Both the candidates secured 34 votes each in the 68-member House, including three Independent legislators who are believed to have voted in favour of the BJP. Mahajan was eventually declared the winner through a draw of lots.

The BJP has won the lone Rajya Sabha seat in the state after six Congress MLAs cross-voted in the polls.

Later the seats of six Congress legislators from Dharamsala, Lahaul-Spiti, Sujanpur, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar fell vacant after the party disqualified its sitting MLAs. They are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma.

Now, the by-elections to six Assembly seats will be held simultaneously with the state's four Lok Sabha seats on June 1.