Chandigarh, March 15 -- The BJP seems to be hopeful of springing a surprise in the March 16 Rajya Sabha election for two seats from Haryana by altering the legislative arithmetic to secure victory for its state vice president and independent candidate, Satish Nandal.

Three candidates - Sanjay Bhatia of the BJP, Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress and Satish Nandal as a BJP-backed Independent - are in the contest for the two Upper House berths that will fall vacant on April 9 following the end of the terms of BJP MPs, Ram Chander Jangra and Kiran Choudhry.

In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 48 MLAs and the Congress has 37 MLAs. There are three Independents and two MLAs of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

Ideally, the ruling ...