Amid cross-voting, NDA-supported Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani on Thursday won one of the two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, defeating the Congress's Pranav Jha, an official said. The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Baidyanath Ram was elected to the other seat. Nathwani polled 28 votes after which he was declared the winner, the official said. Jha bagged 20 votes. JMM's Ram received 30 votes in the election, while three votes -- two from the BJP and one from the Congress -- were found invalid, the official said. The BJP-led NDA has 24 MLAs, four short of the minimum of 28 first-preference votes required in the 81-member assembly to secure a berth in the Upper House of Parliament.
The ruling INDIA bloc, including the JMM and the Congress, has 56 members in the House. Soon after Nathwani's win, Congress launched a scathing attack on the saffron party, saying it promoted 'horse trading' in Jharkhand. Congress minister Dipika Pandey Singh said, "The BJP fielded a corporate member as an Independent candidate and won the election by using money power. The BJP is promoting horse trading. However, we are happy that all Congress MLAs remained united and polled in favour of the Congress candidate,” she said. Jharkhand Congress in-charge K Raju, who was also the polling agent for the election, also blamed alliance partners the RJD and CPI(ML) Liberation for the defeat. "RJD and CPI(ML)Liberation betrayed us. They didn’t vote for us, and that’s why we lost. We received JMM’s four votes, and all Congress legislators exercised their franchise in favour of our candidate," Raju told reporters.
Asked if the result would have an impact on the alliance, Raju said he would discuss the matter with Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Jharkhand BJP chief Aditya Sahu congratulated Nathwani and said legislators exercised their franchise following their conscience.
“Despite our two votes being invalid, Nathwani managed 28 votes. It is a big win. Even members in the India bloc have shown faith in development works being carried out under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Sahu said. He rejected allegations of horse trading, asserting that the legislators cast their votes following their conscience.
Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi said the Jharkhand voters, especially BJP MLAs, were mature and sensible, and they know whom to vote for in the larger interest of the state. “Nathwani has been an MP from Jharkhand for two terms from 2008 to 2020. People have seen his work. He again got the opportunity to serve Jharkhand, and people will get its benefit,” Marandi, a former CM, said.
Another ex-chief minister and BJP leader Champai Soren expressed confidence that Nathwani would play a positive role in reaching the welfare schemes of the Centre to the people of Jharkhand. Both the ruling and opposition camps had left no stone unturned to keep their MLAs intact ahead of the polling. The NDA MLAs were shifted to a hotel in Ranchi on Tuesday, while the ruling INDIA bloc held meetings with its MLAs to thwart chances of cross-voting.