The ruling BJP and the main Opposition party, the Congress, on Tuesday claimed victory on one seat each in the elections for two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana in a keenly contested election that saw the INLD abstain from voting.Former MP Sanjay Bhatia of the BJP and Dalit activist Karamvir Boudh of the Congress won the election through preference votes, as per party claims made past 1:30 am after counting concluded. The official announcement of the result is still awaited.The Congress leaders said that four votes of the party were declared invalid while five of its MLAs cross-voted, prompting General Secretary BK Hariprasad to declare that stern action would be taken against these MLAs. While it is clear that Congress MLA Mohd Ilyas cross-voted, the names of four other MLAs who defied the party line are are still awaited.Of the three complaints of violations of vote secrecy, one vote (that of Congress MLA Paramvir Singh) was declared invalid by the Returning Officer. A delayed response from the Election Commission held up counting by more than five hours.BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal lost by a very narrow margin. Sports Minister Gaurav Gautam claimed Nandal was defeated by a margin of three votes and said he had nearly won. Had the INLD voted, the result could have been different, he added.Soon after the counting process concluded, leaders from both parties announced that their respective candidates had won.Hariprasad levelled serious allegations against the BJP, accusing it of trying to woo the Congress voters, and said that action would be taken against those who cross-voted. “The BJP went all out when it came to horse-trading, but the Congress leaders stood their ground. BJP leaders even followed us to Himachal Pradesh. However, all such attempts were thwarted,” he said, giving credit for victory to state chief Rao Narendra Singh, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda.Meanwhile, the BJP tried to harp on the infighting in the Congress which resulted in cross-voting.“This was a very interesting election. The Congress did not trust its own MLA and moved them to Himachal Pradesh. They kept shifting them every hour. Their senior leaders, including the general secretary in charge, became a polling agent,” CM Nayab Singh Saini said.He also took a swipe at the INLD for indirectly helping the Congress by staying away from voting.“If the INLD did not want to support the BJP, it could have supported the Independent candidate. However, by deciding to abstain, it helped the Congress and become its ‘B team’,” the CM said.While it was widely expected that the BJP and the Congress would win one seat each based on their strength in the Haryana Assembly, Nandal’s last-day Independent nomination added a twist to the contest. He was backed by three independent MLAs and seven BJP MLAs, enabling him to meet the minimum requirement of 10 proposers for filing a Rajya Sabha nomination.To prevent ‘poaching’ of its MLAs, the Congress had moved its 31 legislators to a resort in Himachal Pradesh, first to Shimla and then to Kasauli, before they were brought to Chandigarh in a bus.Haryana Rajya Sabha resultsTotal strength of Vidhan Sabha: 90Abstained: 2 INLD MLAsEffective strength: 88Votes cancelledINC: 4BJP: 1Now effective strength: 83BJP candidate: 28 votesINC candidate: 28 votesIndependent candidate (backed by BJP): 27 votesCross-voting: 5 Congress MLAs