Bhopal: A 67-year-old social worker has turned what was expected to be a walkover into a contest. Rajkumar Lohani filed his nomination on Monday as a Congress-backed independent against Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for Madhya Pradesh's vacant Rajya Sabha seat.
Lohani submitted his papers at the state assembly on the last day of filing. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Hemant Katare was his proposer; Congress MLA Atif Aqeel and other party functionaries stood with him.
A resident of Ghoda Nakkas in Old Bhopal, Lohani has studied up to higher secondary level and has never been affiliated to a political party. He is known in the city as a social worker.
The numbers favour Puri heavily. In the 230-member assembly, with an effective strength of 229, the BJP has 164 MLAs. A candidate needs 116 votes to win. Puri, the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, filed on October 31 in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state BJP president Hemant Khandelwal.
The bypoll was forced by Union Minister of State L. Murugan's resignation on October 14, when he left the Council of Ministers and the Upper House to focus on strengthening the BJP in Tamil Nadu. His term was to end on April 2, 2030.
The election matters personally to Puri, 74, whose Rajya Sabha term from Uttar Pradesh ends on November 25.
A third candidate, Telangana's Kante Sayanna, is also in the fray. He has contested several Lok Sabha and assembly elections in different states without success.
Katare raised a doubt about Lohani's papers. The assembly website indicated that the mandatory Form 26 affidavit had not been submitted with the nomination, which could lead to rejection at scrutiny. Lohani says he filed every document in hard and soft copy, and has written to Returning Officer Umesh Sharma complaining that he was not allowed to submit the affidavit before the 3 pm deadline on Monday.
Scrutiny is on November 3, withdrawal closes on November 5, and polling, if required, will be held on November 12 from 9 am to 4 pm, with counting at 5 pm.