To protect its flock from getting poached in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) held a meeting on Friday afternoon and decided to move MLAs to Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.The MLAs will now come to Chandigarh on March 16, the day of voting.The MLAs first had lunch at Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s residence and then boarded luxury buses for Shimla.The Congress has 37 MLAs in the state Assembly. For its candidate Karamvir Singh Boudh to win, the Congress needs 31 first preference votes. However, Independent Satish Nandal is relying on cross-voting from Congress in the elections. He is backed by the BJP too.State in-charge BK Hariprasad and state Congress president Rao Narender Singh, too, are leaving for Shimla with the MLAs. Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda, Sonepat MP Satpal Bhramchari and Ambala MP Varun Chaudhary are accompanying the group.A training of MLAs for voting will also be held in Shimla.The elections for two Rajya Sabha seats will be held on March 16. BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia will sail through comfortably as the party has 48 seats. For the second seat, Boudh and Nandal will compete.The Congress has witnessed cross-voting in earlier Rajya Sabha polls. In 2022, Ajay Maken had lost from Haryana. He is presently the national treasurer of the Congress. That time too, the Congress had moved its MLAs to Chhattisgarh. Its MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi had cross-voted and the party had accused Kiran Choudhry for the invalid vote.Also, in 2016, the ink controversy led to the invalidation of 12 party votes that were marked with different ink, resulting in the loss of Congress-backed Independent candidate, advocate RK Anand.There is an open ballot system in Rajya Sabha polls. An MLA cannot be disqualified from Vidhan Sabha for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha poll.The Supreme Court in its judgment dated August 22, 2006, in the matter of Kuldip Nayar Vs Union of India and Ors said, “The contention that the right of expression of the voter at an election for the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) is affected by open ballot is not tenable, as an elected MLA would not face any disqualification from the Membership of the House for voting in a particular manner. He may, at the most, attract action from the political party to which he belongs.”