INDIA Bloc Rift Exposed As Cross-Voting Costs Congress 2nd Rajya Sabha Seat In Jharkhand

Ranchi: In a major setback to the Congress, the party lost the second Rajya Sabha seat from Jharkhand on Thursday due to cross-voting by INDIA bloc allies, RJD and CPI (ML).

While Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate and former minister Baidyanath Ram won his seat, the second seat went to NDA-backed Independent Parimal Nathwani, leaving Congress red-faced. Congress had fielded Pranav Jha as its candidate in the polls.

The first sign of discontent in the Congress camp became  visible soon after results were out as AICC in charge of Jharkhand K Raju said that MLAs from the RJD and CPI(ML) betrayed the Congress, preventing the party-backed candidate from winning the election. He maintained that had all the alliance partners stood together with full strength, the outcome could have been different.

Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh has also held RJD and CPI (ML) responsible for Pranav Jha's defeat. She stated that the alliance partners, who claimed the Mahagathbandhan was strong, needed to clarify their stance. Her statement also makes it evident that the Rajya Sabha election results might heighten discomfort within the INDIA alliance. Political analysts believe that the apparently unease could impact the alliance's future strategy.

In the 81-member assembly, a candidate needed 28 first-preference votes to win. Sources said JMM candidate Ram got 30 votes while Nathwani secured 28. Sources said that four MLAs of the RJD and two of the CPI(M-L) Liberation voted for Nathwani.

Congress’s Jha could manage to get only 20 votes. Nathwani got 30 votes, but two were found to be invalid, sources said, while one vote that went to Jha was declared invalid.

The JMM-led alliance has a total of 56 MLAs and without cross-voting, both its candidates would have comfortably won. Nathwani, a Gujarat-based businessman, represented Jharkhand in the Rajya Sabha for two consecutive terms between 2008 and 2020, both times as an Independent. In his previous tenure in the Rajya Sabha, he represented the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) as an MP from Andhra Pradesh.