Kiran Choudhry quits as MLA, BJP likely to give her RS ticket

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday named senior party leader Kiran Choudhry as its nominee from Haryana for the Rajya Sabha bypoll, nearly two months after she switched sides from the Congress.

The bypoll for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana was necessitated after Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak.

Haryana Agriculture Minister Kanwar Pal, who was speaking to reporters here after a meeting of the party's state legislature group, said, "She (Choudhry) will file her nomination papers on Wednesday.".

Given the BJP's numbers in the assembly, it is set to win the seat. Main opposition Congress had earlier said it was not going to field its candidate as it lacked adequate numbers.

Earlier in the day, MLA Choudhry resigned from the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

"I have tendered my resignation as Vidhan Sabha member (MLA)," Choudhry had told PTI.

Her resignation was accepted by the assembly speaker.

A former Haryana minister and MLA from Tosham, Choudhry, 69, joined the BJP along with her daughter Shruti and their supporters in June.

Elections to the 12 vacant Rajya Sabha seats in nine states will be held on September 3.

The last day for filing nominations for the seat is Wednesday.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on August 22 while candidates can withdraw their nominations until August 27.

If necessary, voting will be held on September 3, at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat from 9 am to 4 pm.

After Choudhry's resignation, BJP has 41 members in the 90-member assembly, Congress 28 and JJP 10. There are five Independents in the assembly, Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party have one member and four seats are vacant.

The BJP also enjoys the support of Independent MLA Nayan Pal Rawat and HLP MLA Gopal Kanda.

Three Independents support the Congress.

After Choudhry joined the BJP, the Congress approached the assembly speaker seeking her disqualification from the House but its request was rejected on "technical grounds".

Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda had earlier said that his party would not field a candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat as it did not have the numbers.

After JJP leader Dushyant Chautala told Hooda that the Congress must name a candidate, the leader of the opposition said the former deputy chief minister should first check how many MLAs from his party were with him.

JJP MLAs Ram Niwas Surjakhera and Jogi Ram Sihag had come out in support of BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.

Chautala had said that if Hooda was not colluding with the BJP then his party should field a candidate for the bypoll.

"We have already promised to vote against the BJP," the JJP leader had said.