Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh High Court issued a notice to respondent MP and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Harsh Mahajan on a petition filed by Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The matter has been listed for May 23, 2024.

"There is an election petition in the court in which we have challenged the elections of Rajya Sabha. We are on the principle of Law. There are no disputed facts in it; all are admitted facts only on provisions of Law. The court has recorded our preliminary submission and notices have been issued to the responses," said Neeraj Gupta, Advocate for the petition.

"The notice has been issued to the elected candidate Harsh Mahajan ji. After the elections, both candidates got equal votes. We have the view that the procedure followed during the draw of lots was not right and we have challenged the elections. The matter was listed in the court of Justice Ajay Goyal ji and the next date of hearing is May 23," Gupta added further.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi filed the petition in Himachal Pradesh High Court on April 6 challenging the 'draw of lots'.

The senior Congress Leader lost the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27 after the cross-voting by the Congress Rebels. Singhvi and BJP's Candidate Harsh Mahajan got equal 34 votes each but Mahajan won in the draw of lots in accordance with the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. In his petition, Singhvi challenged the fundamental question of winning and losing through the draw of lots.

In voting for Rajya Sabha elections earlier in February this year, the BJP, which has just 25 MLAs, managed to secure nine additional votes. The vote ended in a 34-34 tie, with three Independents and six Congress MLAs cross-voting for the BJP.

Six Congress MLAs--Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma, and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal--cross-voted during the polls. The MLAs were disqualified and subsequently joined the BJP, where they were named the candidates in the Bypolls.

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