Cross-voting by alliance MLAs, Congress candidate loses in Jharkhand; NDA's strength in Rajya Sabha rises to 152

NEW DELHI: The Congress’ attempt to send senior leader Pranav Jha to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand failed after alliance partners cross-voted in the election. Parimal Nathwani, Director of Corporate Affairs at Reliance Industries, who contested with BJP support, won the seat.

With this victory, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) increased its strength in the Rajya Sabha from 149 to 152 members. The result comes as another setback for the Congress after the nomination of senior leader Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected in Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress accused its alliance partners of betraying the party. It also alleged that the BJP had carried out horse-trading to influence the result. The CPI(ML) Liberation party rejected the allegation.

The election was held for two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand. In the 81-member state assembly, a candidate needed 28 first-preference votes to win. The ruling INDIA alliance had the support of 56 MLAs.

In the first seat, JMM leader Baidyanath Ram, from the INDIA alliance, won as expected. Since the JMM had 34 votes, it was believed that the extra votes after reaching the required number were transferred to the Congress candidate. The Congress, which has 16 MLAs, needed six additional votes to reach the winning mark of 28. The party expected support from the RJD (4 MLAs) and CPI(ML) Liberation (2 MLAs). However, the Congress received only 21 votes.

Meanwhile, the NDA candidate, who had the support of only 24 MLAs, received 28 votes and secured victory. Following this, Congress accused some alliance members of cross-voting.

Zoram People’s Movement gets Rajya Sabha representation
In Mizoram, K. Lallawmawma, spokesperson of the ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), won the Rajya Sabha election. He became the first Rajya Sabha representative from the party. He defeated Mizo National Front candidate Sotansangi Hmar. The BJP, which has two MLAs in Mizoram, and the Congress, which has one MLA, stayed away from voting.

Voting held for three seats
The election was conducted to fill 24 Rajya Sabha seats across 10 states. Candidates for 21 seats were elected unopposed. Voting was held only for the remaining three seats- two in Jharkhand and one in Mizoram.