NDA nears 2/3rd mark after Rajya Sabha polls, bags a surprise Jharkhand seat

THe amerind subject Developmental Inclusive confederation ( bharat) suffered a setback in Jharkhand on th after National Democratic Alliance-backed independent candidate Parimal Nathwani edged out Congress pick Pranav Jha to win one of the two Rajya Sabha seats on offer from the state.Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate Baidyanath Ram won the other seat comfortably amid cross voting by at least four legislators of the ruling JMM-Congress coalition.This round of Rajya Sabha elections had 27 seats on offer across 10 states. Out of these, contests were expected only in Madhya Pradesh, where the controversial disqualification of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan handed the Bharatiya Janata Party an uncontested seat, and Jharkhand.In all, of the 27 seats, the NDA got 19 and INDIA bloc five. In the 245-member Rajya Sabha, the NDA now stands at 152 and the INDIA at 63. With the help of BJD and YSRCP, who have 5 and 7 seats respectively, the NDA can reach the two-thirds majority mark in the Rajya Sabha of 164.In Jharkhand, the contest was declared when Nathwani, who was a Rajya Sabha member of the YSR Congress Party, decided to contest as independent backed by the NDA.In the 81-member assembly where two Rajya Sabha seats were in the fray, a candidate needed 28 first preference votes to win. The JMM has 34 legislators, Congress 16, the Rashtriya Janata Dal four, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation has two.The first JMM candidate, Ram, was always in the clear. But the Congress candidate, Jha, couldn’t afford to lose any votes.The NDA—which had 24 lawmakers, including include 21 from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and one each from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), All Jharkhand Students Union Party and the Janata Dal (United)—needed four more first-preference votes.The Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) has one MLA.Assembly officials said Ram managed 30 first-preference votes. That left only 26 for Jha. Out of that, at least four people cross-voted in favour of Nathwani, who emerged victorious with 28 first-preference votes.Another three votes were declared invalid.Nathwani, who is now a four-time Rajya Sabha member, said in an X post, “Deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve the fourth term as the Member of Rajya Sabha...Extending sincere gratitude to Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah, BJP National President Shri Nitin Nabin and the BJP-led NDA for their support...”Members of the INDIA bloc blamed each other.Jharkhand Congress in-charge K Raju accused the RJD and CPI (ML-L) of betraying the alliance. “I was also the party agent for the party. I can confirm in writing that all 16 legislators of the Congress remained intact. We also received four votes from the JMM, taking our tally to 20. The RJD and the CPI-ML have betrayed us. The BJP didn’t field a candidate of its own and backed an independent candidate who used money power to win,” Raju told reporters.Jharkhand RJD chief and legislator Sanjay Prasad Yadav said Raju was unaware of the RJD’s history in the state. “We are disciples of Lalu Prasad. We would go to jail but can never betray anyone. Our top leadership sent their most trusted man, Bhola Yadav, from Patna who became the party agent. We are not Lord Hanuman to open our chests and prove our loyalty,” he added.Arup Chatterjee, legislature party leader of CPI (ML-L), said the Congress should introspect why it was unable to keep its flock together. “The charge is baseless. We voted for the alliance. We had no other choice. The party leadership appointed the senior leader as a party agent. At such moments the bigger parties join hands and make smaller parties like us the scapegoat,” he added.Leader of the Opposition Babulal Marandi said lawmakers voted in favour of Nathwani because of his previous track record. “People of the state and the legislators of all parties have also seen the development work that Nathwani ji has done in the state during his previous two terms between 2008 and 2020. Besides NDA legislators he got support from legislators of other parties as well because the legislators of Jharkhand are mature enough to assess who would work more for the state,” he said.