INDIA bloc, NDA to field one candidate each for Upper House

Ranchi: The ensuing Rajya Sabha polls to fill two vacant seats in Jharkhand in all likelihood will not require elections on March 21 as both the ruling and opposition camps are understood to have decided to field one candidate each from their sides.
In the 81-member house with an effective strength of 80 after resignation of Gandey MLA, both the ruling INDIA bloc and NDA (BJP-Ajsu-P combine) have sufficient strength to send one candidate each from their side to the upper house.Elections will only be necessitated in case of three or more candidates in the fray. BJP on Sunday afternoon held a meeting of all its MLAs at the party office to chalk out modalities for smooth sailing of their candidate Pradeep Verma, whose name was vetted by the party high command on Saturday.
Talking to TOI, BJP’s leader of opposition Amar Kumar Bauri said, “We decided to ensure that our candidate (Pradip Verma) gets elected. All our MLAs will work towards that common goal.” On speculation of BJP mulling to field one more candidate, like it did in Himachal Pradesh recently without having sufficient numbers on their side, Bauri denied having any such plans. He said, “Jharkhand has been infamous for horse trading during RS polls in the past. We don’t want that to happen again. Therefore, BJP is only going to field one candidate and we expect the same from the ruling alliance’s side too. I am trying to get in touch with CM Champai Soren in this regard to request that they too don’t prop up any third candidate so that both sides can get their respective nominees elected to the Upper House.”
Notably, a Mumbai-based businessman, Harihar Mahapatra, who last year acquired about 19% space in a private aviation company, too, reportedly procured nomination paper for the RS polls. Bauri denied his party’s links with him. The ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance too will field one joint candidate. Congress’s leader of opposition Alamgir Alam told TOI, “So far, we have only one joint candidate (Sarfaraz Ahmad) in mind. He will file his nomination tomorrow.” Two RS seats fell vacant this month after the terms of Dhiraj Sahu (Congress) and Sameer Oraon (BJP) expired.