With the race for two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand entering its final phase, senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday expressed confidence that the ruling INDIA bloc would secure both seats. He said Chief Minister Hemant Soren had convened a meeting of all 56 alliance MLAs to firm up strategy ahead of the filing of nominations.
Baghel, who along with Congress leader Ajay Sharma has been appointed observer for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand, met Soren in Ranchi and discussed electoral strategy and coordination within the ruling alliance.
“A detailed discussion was held on both seats with Chief Minister Hemant Soren, as he is the leader of the ruling alliance here. He has called a meeting of all 56 MLAs this evening. We will also be present there,” Baghel told reporters after the meeting.
Projecting confidence over the outcome, the former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said the alliance was comfortably placed in the numbers game.
“We are going to win both seats here. The two nominees of the ruling alliance will file their nomination papers on Monday,” he said.
The confidence within the alliance stems from its numerical advantage in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, where the INDIA bloc has 56 MLAs — 34 from the JMM, 16 from the Congress, four from the RJD and two from the CPI(ML) Liberation.
In contrast, the NDA has 24 legislators, including 21 from the BJP and one each from the LJP (Ram Vilas), AJSU Party and JD(U). The Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha has one MLA.
A candidate requires at least 28 first-preference votes to win. The Congress has already announced senior party functionary Pranav Jha as its candidate for one of the two seats, while the JMM has fielded former minister Baidyanath Ram.
Baghel and Sharma had also met Soren on Saturday, hours after the JMM formally announced Ram’s candidature.
The BJP has said it will contest one of the two seats, but is yet to announce its candidate.
One of the Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant after the death of JMM co-founder Shibu Soren, while the second will fall vacant as BJP MP Deepak Prakash completes his six-year term on June 21.
The nomination process began on June 1 and the last date for filing papers is June 8. Polling for the two seats will be held on June 18.
