The Rajya Sabha election results in Jharkhand have opened a rift between the INDIA bloc partners Congress and the RJD after cross-voting handed victory to Parimal Nathwani, backed by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Congress on Friday alleged betrayal by its allies following the defeat of the INDIA bloc's nominee Pranav Jha. Reacting to the result, Congress leader Rajesh Thakur said the party had expected 26 votes but secured only 21 valid votes, while one vote was declared invalid.
"We had 26 votes and received only 21, while one vote was invalidated. In our alliance, we had 16 Congress votes, four from the JMM, four from the RJD and two from the CPI(ML). It appears that we did not receive the votes of the RJD and CPI(ML). There has been a betrayal, and betrayal happens only where there is trust. Everyone needs to seriously introspect on this," Thakur said.
Cross voting claims
Jharkhand Congress in-charge K Raju accused the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Left parties of betraying the INDIA bloc. He alleged that legislators from the RJD and Left parties may have accepted money and voted in favour of the NDA-backed candidate.
Raju claimed that Congress candidate Pranav Jha had received the support of all 16 Congress MLAs and suggested that cross-voting by alliance partners led to his defeat.
RJD hits back at Congress
The RJD strongly rejected the allegations and instead blamed Congress for failing to secure the support of all its own legislators.
In a statement, the party said the Jharkhand Rajya Sabha election results clearly showed that Congress had been unable to keep its MLAs united. It advised Congress to introspect before making "baseless allegations" against alliance partners.
The RJD further pointed to previous Rajya Sabha biennial elections held in March, alleging that several Congress MLAs had openly cross-voted in favour of the BJP or remained absent during voting. The party questioned whether Congress had taken any action against those legislators, adding that some of them continue to appear alongside the party's senior leadership.
Jharkhand Rajya Sabha election results
Elections were held for two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand. NDA-backed independent candidate Parimal Nathwani secured 28 votes, while Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Baijnath Ram received 31 votes.
Rajya Sabha Returning Officer Ranjit Kumar said three candidates were in the fray -- Congress candidate Pranav Jha, JMM's Baijnath Ram and independent candidate Parimal Nathwani.
A total of 81 legislators cast their votes. During the counting process, 78 votes were found valid, while three votes were declared invalid. Following approval from the Election Commission of India, Baijnath Ram and Parimal Nathwani were declared elected to the Rajya Sabha.
