India, March 17 -- In a high-stakes midnight cliffhanger, the Congress narrowly secured one of Haryana's two Rajya Sabha seats on Tuesday, surviving a major internal rebellion and invalid ballots. Despite holding a comfortable majority on paper, the party's candidate, Karamvir Singh Boudh, scraped through only after a nine-hour counting delay.

BJP's Sanjay Bhatia clinched the first seat with ease, polling 39 first-preference votes. However, the battle for the second seat between Boudh and BJP-backed Independent Satish Nandal exposed deep fractures within the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).

The numbers game

The final tally revealed a narrow escape for the opposition as Boudh polled 28 votes and Nandal 16 votes.

In the 90-member House...