NDA wins all 5 Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar, 2 in Odisha; Congress cries foul
India Today
The NDA won all five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar after four Opposition MLAs skipped voting, dealing a setback to the Mahagathbandhan. The alliance also secured two seats in Odisha amid cross-voting by Opposition MLAs during the biennial polls.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Monday won all five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar in the biennial elections, while also securing two seats in Odisha following cross-voting.
In Bihar, the ruling NDA’s candidates included Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BJP national president Nitin Nabin. Voting concluded later in the evening, PTI sources in the alliance claimed that “all 202 MLAs” belonging to the NDA had taken part in the polling.
The alliance in the state includes Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Union minister Chirag Paswan, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi, and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Upendra Kushwaha, who is also one of the five candidates in the Rajya Sabha contest.
The opposition Mahagathbandhan, however, appeared to falter during the voting process, with three MLAs of the Congress and one of the RJD remaining absent from the polling.
Their absence came on a day when even parties not aligned with the opposition coalition, such as AIMIM and BSP, were present in the Assembly.
The AIMIM, which has five MLAs in the Bihar Assembly, and the lone BSP legislator said they voted in favour of RJD candidate Amarendra Dhari Singh.
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