Patna: A day after AICC in-charge for Jharkhand K Raju held RJD and CPI(ML) responsible for Congress candidate Pranav Jha’s defeat in the Rajya Sabha election, both parties on Friday quashed the allegations and asserted that their MLAs voted in favour of Jha in the polls.
Soon after the election results were out, Raju alleged that MLAs from RJD and CPI (ML) cross-voted in the polls, which led to his party candidate's defeat.
In the polls held on Thursday, JMM candidate Baidyanath Ram and NDA-backed Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani were elected.
CPI (ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge registering his party's “strong protest” against the allegation. He also called the allegation malicious and asserted in the letter that CPI(ML) had been one of the most committed constituents of the INDIA bloc since its formation. He warned against “unwarranted allegations” that undermined mutual trust among the alliance parties.
“This is a malicious lie. Both our MLAs voted for Mr Jha as planned in the meeting of opposition MLAs. Our polling agents duly verified the votes before the ballots were cast,” he said.
“We call upon you (Kharge) to ask Congress leaders to stop making unverified and unwarranted allegations against allies that undermine mutual trust among parties of the INDIA bloc,” Bhattacharya wrote in his letter.
Meanwhile, RJD national general secretary Bhola Yadav asserted that all four party MLAs had voted for the INDIA bloc candidate Pranav Jha. “We came here to conduct the election, and our members voted for the Congress candidate. The (Congress) incharge here is making baseless statements only to hide his own mistakes. I reject and condemn those statements,” he added. However, Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed reiterated the party’s allegation, saying: “We won all (five Rajya Sabha seats) in Karnataka. So don’t blame the Congress party. The RJD and the CPI-ML cross-voted.”
Meanwhile, JMM general secretary Vinod Pandey stated that all 34 party MLAs cast their votes 100 percent, supporting both alliance candidates. He stated that he himself was present at the polling station throughout the voting as a party agent and monitored the voting process. He said that the Mahagathbandhan would review the Rajya Sabha election results and determine the reasons why the expected results were not achieved. This will help address such shortcomings in the future and strengthen the alliance at the national level in its political fight against the BJP, he added.
In the polls, Nathwani polled 28 votes, while Jha secured 20. Ram received 30 votes. Three votes—two from the BJP, one from the Congress—were declared invalid. The ruling INDIA bloc has 56 members in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, while the BJP-led NDA has 24 MLAs.
