Rajya Sabha polls: BJP fields Harsh Mahajan against Cong's Abhishek Singhvi

Shimla: A direct contest for the lone Rajya Sabha seat is on the cards in Himachal Pradesh as the BJP has fielded former minister in the Congress government Harsh Mahajan against the latter's candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The BJP's move has dashed the hopes of the Congress to get Singhvi elected unopposed.

Springing a surprise, the BJP on Thursday fielded Harsh Mahajan, who had joined the party ahead of Assembly polls in 2022, as its candidate.

Mahajan presented the nomination papers to the returning officer in the presence of the Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP chief Rajiv Bindal and other party MLAs.

At present, the ruling Congress has a clear majority with 40 out of 68 seats in the state legislative Assembly. The BJP has 25 seats while three are independents.

"We contest the election to win and I have also filed nomination for winning the seat," Mahajan told mediapersons after filing the nomination.

When asked about the numbers and possibility of cross-voting, Mahajan said that he was not bothered about the numbers and expressed confidence that the Congress members feeling "suffocated and sidelined" would exercise "conscience vote" and things would be clear on February 27.

Mahajan was elected to the state Assembly thrice - in 1993, 1998 and 2003. He was also the president of the State Youth Congress from 1986 to 1995.

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that the BJP candidate would win as a large number of Congress MLAs are "not feeling comfortable" and may exercise "conscience vote".

Referring to the nomination of Singhvi as Congress candidate, Thakur said that it was an internal matter of the party but it would have been better if someone from the state was given the ticket.

He questioned the Congress government that how a person who was pleading the case of companies against imposition of water cess had been given the Rajya Sabha ticket from Himachal.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi also filed his nomination in the presence of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, state party chief Pratibha Singh, in-charge of Himachal Pradesh Congress Rajiv Shukla and former chief minister of Chhatisgarh Bhupesh Baghel.

At present, Singhvi, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, is Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal.

Talking to reporters, Sukhu termed Harsh Mahajan a "symbolic leader" and said that the Congress has majority in the Assembly.

If elected, Singhvi would be the third person from outside the state to be fielded from Himachal. Earlier, two outsiders -- Maharani Mohinder Kaur and BJP leader Krishan Lal Sharma -- were elected to Rajya Sabha in 1978 and 1990, respectively.

The Rajya Sabha seat from the state is falling vacant on April 2 after the expiry of six-year term of BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, who has been given a ticket from Gujrat.

The last date for filing of nominations is Thursday (February 15), while scrutiny of nomination papers would take place on February 16 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is February 20. Polling, if necessary, would be held on February 27.

At present, all three Rajya Sabha seats from the state are held by the BJP and other two members from the state are Indu Goswami and Sikender Kumar.