CONGRESS FACES PROSPECT OF CROSS VOTING IN RAJYA SABHA ELECTIONS

Voting is scheduled for Monday in three states. The real battle is going to unfold in Haryana.

- AJIT MAINDOLA

The Congress party is having to work overtime to prevent cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha and Haryana. Although elections are being held in Bihar as well, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has taken charge of preventing cross-voting there. However, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is poised to pull off a strategic coup in Bihar with relative ease. There are weak links within Congress ranks in Odisha as well, which the BJP has firmly set its sights on. Voting is scheduled for Monday in these three states, necessitated by the fielding of additional candidates. The real battle, however, is going to unfold in Haryana. In terms of sheer numerical strength, the Congress party faces no apparent difficulties. Yet, given the experiences of past elections, the Congress is under immense tension.

In the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh, the BJP has already demonstrated its ability to engineer a major defection-pulling off a victory in an election that had previously appeared impossible. The electoral arithmetic in Haryana is, more or less, quite similar.