Rajya Sabha polls: All eyes on independents, but no one can see their vote

Opaque voting rules put spotlight on 7 non-party MLAs

- NL CORRESPONDENT

The National Conference (NC) and Congress made last-ditch efforts to forge unity ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, following Congress's public announcement that it would not contest the ‘riskier’ fourth seat.

As a result of negotiations, Congress leaders claim they had nearly agreed to field a candidate for the competitive seat; however, the issue of independents played spoilsport in the final moments of the unity talks. The differences arose from the voting method of independent MLAs, who are not required to show their marked ballots to polling agents-unlike party-affiliated legislators.