RANCHI: In a significant political development, the Congress party faced a major defeat on Thursday as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-backed independent candidate Parimal Nathwani and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Baidhyanath Ram secured victories in the two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand. The Congress candidate, Pranav Jha, was defeated in the election.
This victory marks Nathwani's third term as a Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand. He previously represented the state in the Upper House from 2008 to 2020, followed by a term from Andhra Pradesh. Nathwani, an industrialist hailing from Gujarat, contested as an independent candidate with the backing of the NDA.
Congress alleges betrayal and horse-trading
As the results were announced, the Congress party, which is a part of the JMM-led INDIA bloc government in the state, expressed disappointment and accused its own alliance partners of betrayal. The party also alleged that the BJP was involved in "horse-trading" by supporting a "capitalist" candidate from outside Jharkhand.
All 81 MLAs cast their votes during the polling held at the Vidhan Sabha premises from 9 am to 4 pm. Baidhyanath Ram secured 30 votes, Parimal Nathwani received 28 votes, and Pranav Jha got 20 votes, while three votes were declared invalid.
Reactions from political leaders
Congress's Jharkhand affairs in-charge K Raju stated, "It is truly disappointing despite having sufficient numbers with us to ensure victory for both our INDIA bloc candidates. It is because an independent candidate has once again resorted to horse-trading under BJP's patronage. All our 16 MLAs and four from JMM remained intact."
Congress minister Deepika Pandey reacted to the result by saying, "Dhoka hua" (We were betrayed). On the contrary, BJP's Koderma MLA Neera Yadav celebrated, saying, "Jai Shree Ram, ho gaya kaam" (Lord Ram be praised, the work is done).
The Congress party is part of the ruling INDIA bloc government in Jharkhand. The JMM-Congress-RJD-CPI(ML) alliance has 56 MLAs, enough to win both seats. However, the results dashed Congress's hopes of securing the second seat.
