M A I N   N E W S

BJP’s Ahluwalia loses Jharkhand RS election 
Faraz Ahmad/TNS

New Delhi, May 3
BJP’s SS Ahluwalia was defeated in a three-cornered contest for two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand today. He lost to Pradeep Kumar Balmuchchu of the Congress and Sanjeev Kumar of the JMM, causing loss of face to the BJP. His party was, however, able to save the coalition government in the state.

Balmuchchu got 25 votes despite the fact that the Congress has only 13 MLAs in the Assembly. Five RJD and seven other MLAs also voted for Balmuchchu.

The JMM candidate got his party’s 18 votes, besides five votes from the alliance partner AJSU. Ahluwalia got 20 votes. These included 18 votes from the BJP MLAs and two from the JD-U legislators.

The JVM led by Babulal Marandi, which has 11 MLAs in the House, boycotted the poll because Marandi was unhappy with the Congress. The BJP was banking heavily on the JVM boycott for today’s victory. Ahluwalia looked upset at the defeat and sought a probe into the poll yet again.

While the BJP lost face in the defeat of Ahluwalia, it managed to save its government in the state. Had the JMM candidate got defeated, the precariously placed BJP-JMM-AJSU-JD-U government in the state might have come crashing down, with the alliance coming apart.

The poll was earlier countermanded after casting of votes on March 30 following the seizure of Rs 2.5 crore by the Election Commission from the car of an Independent candidate. 

20 votes 
Ahluwalia finishes third with 20 votes in 82-member house 
Cong, JMM win one seat each