Chandigarh, March 17 -- The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won one seat each in Haryana as the counting of votes for the twin Rajya Sabha seats concluded past midnight.

Sanjay Bhatia of the BJP and Karamvir Boudh of the Congress were declared winners by the returning officer. Earlier, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which has two legislators, abstained from voting, reducing the valid votes to 88 in the 90-member House. Further, on a complaint by the BJP over "violation of voting secrecy", the Election Commission declared one vote - of Congress MLA Paramvir Singh - invalid.

Of the 87 votes, five (all from Congress) were declared invalid by the RO Pankaj Aggarwal. After the counting, Bhatia and Boudh got 28 votes each, ...