The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday nominated Rekha Sharma, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, as its candidate for the lone vacant Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana.
The seat became vacant after the BJP’s Krishan Lal Panwar won in the recently-held state Assembly elections and became the Panchayati Raj minister. The Rajya Sabha bye-election for the seat is slated to be held on December 20.
Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli described Sharma as “an old committed party worker” and said that the party made a good choice by nominating her, The Indian Express reported. “She had been on several positions including chairperson of the NCW and has worked in many spheres,” he said.
Sharma took over as the chairperson of the National Commission for Women in August 2018, after serving as a member for three years. She resigned from the post in August 2024.
Her nine-year-long tenure was marred by criticism. This included backlash over her silence over incidents of violence against women in BJP-ruled states such as violence-hit Manipur, as well as the protests by Haryana's women wrestlers against BJP leader and former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh.
Sharma’s meeting with then Maharashtra Governor BS Koshiyari in October 2020 about a purported “rise in love jihad cases” had also sparked controversy. “Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory espoused by Hindutva groups, alleging that Hindu women are forcibly converted to Islam through marriage.
The BJP has also fielded Ryaga Krishnaiah from Andhra Pradesh and Sujeet Kumar from Odisha for the Rajya Sabha bye-elections. While Krishniah switched to the BJP from the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party in September, Kumar crossed over from the Biju Janata Dal in the same month.
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