NEW DELHI: The Congress managers have failed once again in a crucial numbers game. This time in Jharkhand. Pranav Jha, the Congress nominee for Rajya Sabha seat in the state, on Thursday lost elections to NDA-backed Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani. This despite the fact that the Congress candidate had the support of the requisite number of 28 MLAs needed for his victory.After the counting of votes returning officer Ranjeet Kumar said: “During the counting of votes, 78 votes were found valid while three were rejected. Pranav Jha got 20 votes, Baidyanath Ram 30 and Parimal Nathwani 28. Baidyanath Ram of JMM and Independent candidate Nathwani Parimal were declared elected by the Election Commission.”Little wonder, the BJP was quick to mock the INDIA bloc over the shock defeat and claimed the grand-old-party had “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
The failed numbers game
Voting was held for two Rajya Sabha seats in the state after Nathwani entered the fray backed by the NDA. The INDIA bloc had the support of 56 MLAs while the BJP-led NDA had only 24 in their camp. With 28 first preference votes needed for election of one candidate – the ruling coalition had the exact number for victory in two seats. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Baijnath Ram secured 31 votes and won comfortably. However, the Congress nominee could manage only 20 votes and lost to Nathwani who secured 30 votes. Later, two of Nathwani’s votes were declared invalid, but he was still left with 28 which was needed for a win. His victory despite the two invalid votes proved that there was large-scale cross-voting in favour of the NDA-backed candidate.
Blame game
The defeat triggered an immediate blame game between the INDIA bloc allies in the state. The Congress accused its alliance partners of betrayal. Jharkhand Congress in-charge K. Raju alleged that legislators from the RJD and the CPI-ML had “betrayed” the Congress. The RJD has 4 MLAs in the Jharkhand assembly while CPI(ML) has two legislators.But the CPI(ML) strongly rejected the charge and slammed Congress for failing to keep its flock together. CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the party’s two MLAs had supported the Congress nominee.“As for the speculation over the Jharkhand Rajya Sabha voting, we can say with full responsibility that our two MLAs voted for the Congress candidate as planned. Two of our senior leaders, Polit Bureau member Haldhar Mahato and Central Committee member Geeta Mandal, duly verified the votes cast by CPI-ML legislators,” Dipankar said in a statement.Dipankar asked Congress to look within and warned that such wild allegations could harm the unity of the INDIA bloc.RJD legislator Suresh Paswan also termed the Congress’s allegations baseless. “All four votes of RJD went to the Congress candidate in the election. They should introspect before pointing fingers at others,” Paswan said.Interestingly, Congress also claimed that all its MLAs voted for its candidate.Soon after Nathwani’s win, Congress minister Dipika Pandey Singh said, “The BJP fielded a corporate member as an Independent candidate and won the election by using money power. The BJP is promoting horse trading. However, we are happy that all Congress MLAs remained united and polled in favour of the Congress candidate.”
BJP mocks Congress
The BJP seized on the Congress’s shock defeat claiming the result exposed deep cracks within the INDIA bloc and showed that Rahul Gandhi’s leadership was no longer acceptable even to the opposition alliance’s own partners.BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla called the outcome “a loss for Rahul Gandhi, the Congress and the INDIA bloc”, alleging that internal divisions had once again cost the opposition a winnable election.“The INDI alliance has once again demonstrated its uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory because of infighting,” Poonawalla said.He argued that the INDIA bloc had enough MLAs to win both seats but failed because of rebellion from within. “It is evident that both seats should have gone to the INDI alliance. While the JMM won its seat, the Congress lost because the JMM, RJD and Left parties revolted against the Congress candidate,” he alleged.The BJP leader claimed the result reflected growing resistance to Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, both within the Congress and among its allies.“Rahul Gandhi is not an acceptable prime ministerial face. He has become a liability for the INDIA alliance,” Poonawalla said, adding that the Congress leader had “lost 99 elections” and was facing dissent within his own party.Referring to recent differences among opposition parties, Poonawalla claimed several INDIA bloc constituents had publicly questioned Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.“The Samajwadi Party taunted Rahul Gandhi. The Trinamool Congress has drifted away. The DMK criticised him, the AAP said it could not accept his leadership, and the Left called him immature. Today, the INDI alliance partners themselves are showing Rahul Gandhi his place,” he said.
Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, and now Jharkhand
Jharkhand setback is the second failure this year of the Congress managers to coordinate and manage a crucial election. In March this year, three Congress MLAs did not turn up for voting in the Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar thus leading to the defeat of the opposition Mahagathbandhan candidate at the hands of the BJP. One RJD MLA had also abstained then.In 2024, the Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi faced a stunning upset in Himachal Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections when the BJP with just 25 MLAs in the 68-member assembly managed to win the lone seat in the state after 6 MLAs of the grand-old-party and three independent MLAs had cross-voted.Declaring the victory of the BJP candidate, Harsh Mahajan, leader of the opposition Jairam Thakur had then said: “Despite having such a huge majority, the Congress has lost the Rajya Sabha election in Himachal Pradesh. I want to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda and (Home Minister) Amit Shah. We have pulled off a victory when our chances seemed very low.”
Who played the spoilsport for Congress
For now, we don’t know MLAs of which party played the spoilsport in the elections. But what we do know is that some of the ruling coalition MLAs cross-voted. We also know that there was complete lack of coordination and little anticipation of the challenge at hand by the Congress. The fact that Nathwani stayed in the race and remained confident of victory all through was a clear indication that the NDA managers had done their ground work well and were confident of “conscience voting” a euphemism for cross-voting. Ultimately, they have been proved true. As for the Congress, well, it needs to ponder as to why its managers fail when it comes to the numbers game.
