Prominent leaders of different parties, including Union ministers Amit Shah and JP Nadda of the BJP and Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress, voted on Tuesday in the keenly contested Constitution Club of India polls, as two seasoned ruling party members slug it out for a key position.
Incumbent Secretary (Administration) sRajiv Pratap Rudy, a fifth-term Lok Sabha MP, is facing a spirited challenge to his nearly 25 years at the helm from fellow BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan, a two-term former Lok Sabha MP.
Over 690 votes were cast out of the total electors of 1,295 current and former MPs, officials said, making it one of the highest turnouts for the election to the club's office-bearers.
Rudy had a slight lead over Balyan after initial rounds, with results expected to be out late in the night.
Several Union ministers, including Piyush Goyal and Kiren Rijiju, and governors like Shiv Pratap Shukla of Himachal Pradesh, voted as contestants lobbied intensively to rally their supporters.
Rudy has been a dominant presence, winning several elections uncontested, before Balyan, spurred by the support from some BJP leaders with Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey being the most visible campaigner, decided to test the Bihar leader's strength.
The elections include 14 members vying for the position of 11 executive members.
Both former Union ministers, Rudy and Balyan, may be from the same party but present two contrasting personalities drawn from different social milieus.
Rudy, a commercial pilot, is a suave and polished leader who is at home with social elites, mixing his urbane personality effortlessly with his background as a savvy parliamentarian who has got the better of the likes of Rabri Devi and her daughter Rohini Acharya in Lok Sabha elections from Saran.
Balyan, who is from western Uttar Pradesh, is a representative of rural sensibilities and grassroots ruggedness. Warm and upfront, he has his share of close friends in the BJP and outside.
That Rudy is a Thakur and his rival a Jat has given the contest an expected caste angle, but personal ties and behind-the-scenes manoeuvring are likely to play a big role in the final outcome.
While Rudy has listed the addition of numerous facilities to the club under his tenure to seek another term, Balyan is rooting for a change, claiming that the club should focus on catering to MPs and former MPs and not "outsiders" like IAS and IPS officers.
The Lok Sabha Speaker is the ex-officio president of the club. But the Secretary plays a crucial role in the executive functioning of the facility.
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