Gurugram: Karamveer Bauddh, the Rajya Sabha nominee of the Haryana Congress, shouldn’t be a reputation that rings a bell even amongst social gathering staff within the state.

Bauddh has by no means contested an election, by no means led a serious agitation, and by no means held any important organisational submit within the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. But, it’s Bauddh, and never different aspirants like former state Congress president Udai Bhan, former MLA Jaiveer Valmiki or former MP Ashok Tanwar who the social gathering excessive command has given a ticket for the Rajya Sabha.

A 3rd nomination would push the election to March 16.

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Rahul’s Name

So why Karamveer Bauddh? The quick reply: it was Rahul Gandhi’s alternative. Congress leaders ThePrint spoke to mentioned that the Chief of Opposition within the Lok Sabha personally really helpful Bauddh’s identify, and that sealed the choice.

Senior social gathering leaders in Haryana, a lot of whom had been lobbying arduous for themselves or their candidates, discovered themselves with little possibility however to fall in line. Get together leaders advised ThePrint that the Congress had already determined internally that the ticket would go to a candidate from the Scheduled Caste group.

4 names have been doing the rounds—Bauddh, former state chief Udai Bhan, former MLA Jaiveer Valmiki, and former MP Ashok Tanwar. In the long run, it was Bauddh.

All About Bauddh

Karamveer Bauddh, who hails from the Meham Meeting phase of Rohtak district, retired in 2023 as a Superintendent from the Haryana Civil Secretariat.

He was concerned within the secretariat’s procurement and caretaking features. His service file, nevertheless, was not with out controversy: at one he was level suspended over allegations associated to a fireplace in a retailer below his cost.

After retirement, Bauddh formally joined the Congress social gathering and has since been listed as considered one of 47 Nationwide Convenors of the Scheduled Castes Division of the All India Congress Committee on the AICC web site.

Three causes behind the selection

Get together insiders level to 3 elements that made Bauddh an appropriate alternative, although shocking. First, his SC background. With Congress dedicated to fielding a Dalit candidate, Bauddh matches the invoice.

Second, his lack of factional baggage. In contrast to the opposite names in rivalry, Bauddh shouldn’t be related to any group or camp inside Haryana Congress—not the Hooda camp, not the Selja camp, not another. In a state unit perpetually torn by inner rivalries, this neutrality was apparently seen as a advantage quite than a weak spot. He was seen as a balanced, broadly acceptable face.

Get together insiders say that the third, and which may very well be crucial one, seems to be his affiliation with the IPS Y Puran Kumar suicide case, which had shaken Haryana’s political and administrative institution in October 2025.

The Y Puran Kumar connection

A 2001 batch IPS officer from the Scheduled Caste group serving in Haryana, Y Puran Kumar is alleged to have dedicated suicide by gunshot at his Chandigarh residence on October 7, 2025.

The officer’s spouse, Amneet P. Kumar, herself an IAS officer of 2001 batch had alleged in a criticism given to the Chandigarh Police that her husband had been pushed to take this excessive step attributable to persistent harassment by senior officers, naming then DGP Shatrujeet Kapur after which Rohtak SP Narinder Bijarniya amongst others. The officer’s closing be aware, too, had held the 2 accountable.

The case turned a flashpoint, with political leaders against the BJP rallying behind the IPS officer’s household, who had refused to permit a autopsy examination and cremation for over per week.

Karamveer Bauddh was amongst those that publicly led the agitation demanding justice for Puran Kumar.

Rahul Gandhi visited the officer’s household in Chandigarh, a transfer that put stress on the then BJP authorities and finally compelled it to yield to the household’s calls for for motion towards the named officers.

Bauddh’s position in that agitation, and his affiliation with Rahul Gandhi at a second when Gandhi personally engaged with the difficulty, seems to have left a beneficial impression on the high stage of the social gathering.

One other Congress chief advised The Print that he was additionally lively throughout Deepender Singh Hooda’s Lok Sabha marketing campaign from Rohtak in Might 2024 and took part in social gathering programmes in the course of the October 2024 Haryana meeting elections, the place he had himself been a contender for the ticket from Mullana in Ambala district. That seat finally went to Pooja Chaudhry, spouse of Ambala MP Varun Chaudhry.

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Get together rank and file not amused

Behind the scenes, Haryana Congress leaders are struggling to cover their dismay. A senior Congress chief and sitting MLA, who spoke to ThePrint on situation of anonymity, didn’t mince phrases: “We have been shocked. Sure, he’s within the AICC’s SC Division, and sure, he was lively within the 2024 elections. Even earlier than his retirement, as a pacesetter of SC staff, he used to ask Congress leaders to Ambedkar Jayanti features. However there have been way more skilled and deserving candidates—Udai Bhan alone has given many years to this social gathering and misplaced from Hathin in 2024. It’s arduous to elucidate this option to staff on the bottom.”

One other senior chief admitted the frustration was actual and widespread, however mentioned there was little the state management might do. “The excessive command has determined. We are going to observe,” he mentioned.

Requested whether or not BJP’s attainable assist to an unbiased, if one have been to contest, might upset the arithmetic, the Congress MLA mentioned the social gathering MLAs would abide by the excessive command’s course regardless.

The optics

Jyoti Mishra, an assistant professor of political science at Amity College, Mohali, and a former researcher on the Centre for Research on Creating Societies (CSDS), advised ThePrint that for the Congress, the selection carries an implicit political message.

“The social gathering is doubling down on its Dalit outreach and its constitutional narrative, significantly the ‘Samvidhan Bachao’ marketing campaign during which Bauddh has been an lively participant. It additionally displays Rahul Gandhi’s tendency to achieve past the established political class when making key decisions,” Mishra mentioned.

Whether or not Karamveer Bauddh can develop into the position of a Rajya Sabha MP, with no prior electoral or legislative expertise, stays to be seen. For now, his surprised colleagues in Haryana Congress are studying to reside with a alternative they didn’t see coming.

(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)

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