BJP wants Rajya Sabha votes of some Oppn MLAs cancelled over ballot display

A BJP delegation met EC after the polling process was over to seek a probe into the matter and cancellation of few votes

The BJP on Friday accused three MLAs of the ruling coalition MVA in Maharashtra and two of the opposition Congress in Haryana of "compromising and vitiating" the Rajya Sabha poll process in their states by openly displaying ballot papers and urged the Election Commission to cancel their votes.

A BJP delegation, including Union ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jitendra Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal, met the EC after the polling process was over to seek a probe into the matter and cancellation of their votes.

In its memorandum to the EC, the BJP noted the commission had stated in the matter involving the election of Congress leader Ahmed Patel in Gujarat in 2017 that the very act of showing the ballot paper to anyone other than the election agent of one's party renders the vote invalid.

The Returning Officer is bound by rules to cancel such vote even if it has been cast in ballot box, it noted.

Naqvi said the party had asked the EC to stop the counting of votes till its enquiry was over.

Legislators from four states -- Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka and Rajasthan -- on Friday voted to elect 16 members to Rajya Sabha with some being ferried from resorts they had been sequestered in amid fears of poaching by rivals.

The high-stakes race to the Upper House acquired urgency with the number of candidates exceeding the seats going to the polls in these four states.