Ranchi: Amid fears of money power deciding the fate of candidates in June 11 Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have expressed fears of BJP instigating cross-voting in Jharkhand.
Jharkhand Assembly is to elect 2 Rajya Sabha members from the state on June 11 but there are a total of 3 candidates in the fray.
In a house of 81 members, a candidate requires a minimum of 28 votes for victory.
Since there are three candidates for the two seats, including Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Mahesh Poddar from the BJP and Basant Soren of the JMM, each and every vote is going to count.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is still investigating charges of horse-trading in the two previous Rajya Sabha polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the AJSU combine have 47 votes. They have also managed to rope in a couple of legislators from the smaller parties.
On the other hand, the JMM has 19 votes, the Congress seven and the JVM-P two. It has managed to get the CPI-ML in its kitty.
If both BJP candidates have to win, it will have to make inroads into the opposition ranks.
To prevent disloyalty, the JMM and Congress are making all out efforts to keep their legislators united.
The JMM has talked about its legislators using the option of open ballot. The Congress is thinking of issuing a whip to its voters. Leaders of both parties say they are cautious.
(With IANS inputs)
