E-Paper
JMM chief, BJP candidate win 2 Jharkhand seats
The ruling JMM has 29 legislators in the assembly while the BJP 26 and Congress 15. The All Jharkhand Students Union Party’s two and as many independent lawmakers also voted for Prakash.
Prefer HTon Google
Ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Deepak Prakash won the two Rajya Sabha seats for which polling was held on Friday. A candidate needed 27 first preference votes to win. Soren got 30, while Prakash 31 votes. Shahzada Anwar, who contested unsuccessfully, could manage 18 votes.
The ruling JMM has 29 legislators in the assembly while the BJP 26 and Congress 15. The All Jharkhand Students Union Party’s two and as many independent lawmakers also voted for Prakash.
Prakash thanked BJP’s national leadership and the lawmakers for ensuring his victory. “We always maintained that we have the numbers.... Ideally, this election should not have happened and even JMM president should have got elected uncontested. But Congress fielded its candidate and forced an election,” Prakash said.
Chief minister Hemant Soren said, “But it seems the BJP contested the Rajya Sabha election here as it has been doing in other states to win over MLAs to its side...,” he said.
