Rajya Sabha bypoll: With no opposition, it’ll be a cakewalk for Kiran

Former Congress leader Kiran Choudhry, the daughter-in-law of former chief minister Bansi Lal, is set to get elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana as nominee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after no other candidate entered the fray on Wednesday, the last day for filing the nomination.

The scrutiny of the papers is slated for Thursday. The seat fell vacant after incumbent Deepender Singh Hooda of the Congress was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Rohtak constituency.

The term of this Upper House seat ends on April 9, 2026.

“Only one person has filed the nomination,” Saket Kumar, the managing director of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and returning officer for the Rajya Sabha byelection, said when contacted after the deadline to submit papers had ended.

The firebrand four-time Tosham MLA of Bhiwani district had left Congress in June this year along with her daughter, Shruti, also a former Lok Sabha MP from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh constituency and joined the BJP.

On Wednesday, flanked by chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, state BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli, Cabinet ministers and several party MLAs and the party’s co-incharge for the state, Biplab Kumar Deb, Choudhry filed her papers for the Rajya Sabha byelection from Haryana.

A section of the rebel lawmakers of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) also extended support to her.

That her elevation to the Upper House was almost certain had become clear after Congress categorically stated that it will not field candidate as the party lacked numbers.

In the 90-member assembly where four seats are now vacant, the ruling BJP holds 41 seats, while the Congress tally has come down to 28 with Choudhry’s resignation from the assembly.

The JJP has 10 MLAs and there are five Independents, one INLD member and one HLP member. The BJP also has the support of Independent MLA Nayan Pal Rawat and HLP MLA Gopal Kanda.

Speaking to reporters, chief minister Saini said: “(JJP rebels) Jogi Ram Sihag, Ram Niwas Surjakhera, Ram Kumar Gautam and Anoop Dhanak, (Independent MLA) Nayan Pal Rawat and (Haryana Lokhit Party chief) Gopal Kanda have given their support letter.”

Political watchers say Choudhry’s move to join BJP two months back soon after the Lok Sabha election and now the saffron party rewarding her with berth in the Rajya Sabha ahead of October 1 assembly polls is a significant development and an attempt to assuage the ruffled feelings of Jats, the restive community which has been at the heart of most of the anti-state government agitations.

According to a Rohtak-based political analyst Satish Tyagi, Choudhry has her own pockets of influence in Jat-dominated assembly seats such as Tosham, Bhiwani, Dadri, Badhra and Loharu.

“By rehabilitating her in the Rajya Sabha, BJP has sent out a clear message to her supporters, who in all probability may back BJP to the hilt in assembly polls,” said Tyagi, pointing out that BJP is likely to field her daughter, Shruti, from Tosham segment to contest assembly election.

Tyagi says that Choudhry’s supporters feel that she has been adequately adjusted by the BJP. “As she is a true inheritor of the legacy of former CM Bansi Lal, it’s a shot in the arm for the BJP,” Tyagi said.

With Choudhry in all likelihood becoming the Rajya Sabha member, the kin of all the three legendry Lal’s of Haryana are holding important positions in the Haryana BJP.

For instance, towering Jat community leader and former CM Devi Lal’s son Ranjit Singh Chautala is the energy minister in the state government, who unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha election from Hisar as BJP candidate. Former CM Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi holds a key position in the state election committee of the BJP while his son Bhavya Bishnoi is an MLA from Adampur.

Choudhry has been active in politics for over three decades after she contested her first election as a Congress candidate from Delhi in 1993. She came to Haryana after her husband Surender Singh (Cabinet minister) died in a chopper crash in 2005.