Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 10: While the nomination of the Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected on technical ground of incomplete information, the nomination of the BJP-backed independent candidate from Jharkhand Parimal Nathwani was approved rejecting the objections raised by the Congress.
Ending the days of uncertainty over Mr Nathwani’s nomination, the returning officer in Jharkhand has declared the nomination valid allowing him to stay in the hunt for a seat in the elections to be held on June 18.
Congress leaders raised concerns over certain details in the papers submitted by Nathwani. Among the objections were allegations related to the disclosure of personal information, directorship details in companies and the manner in which his name was recorded in the nomination documents.
The Returning Officer subsequently sought clarification and kept the nomination under review while examining the claims. Following the scrutiny and verification of the required documents, election authorities found the nomination valid.
Mr Nathwani is no stranger to parliamentary politics. He has previously served two terms in the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand and later represented Andhra Pradesh in the Upper House. Seeking another term, he has said he would seek support on the basis of the work he has carried out in Jharkhand over the years, expressing confidence that voters and legislators will assess his record rather than political rhetoric.
Jharkhand will go to polls to elect two members to the Rajya Sabha. Numerically, the ruling alliance led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is in a clear position to win both the seats but Mr Nathwani’s presence could make the task difficult for the Congress.
One of the Rajya Sabha seats fell vacant following the death of JMM co-founder Shibu Soren, while the term of BJP member Deepak Prakash is ending on June 21. A candidate needs a minimum of 28 first-preference votes to secure victory.
Jharkhand Assembly has a strength of 81 members. Of these, the INDIA bloc has 56 MLAs — 34 from the JMM, 16 from the Congress, four from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and two from CPI(ML) Liberation. On the other hand, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 24 MLAs — 21 from the BJP and one each from the LJP (Ram Vilas), AJSU and JD(U). The Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha also has an MLA.
Mr Nathwani’s nomination has intensified the political activities in Jharkhand. Mr Nathwani on arrival in Ranchi met both the state BJP leaders and the chief minister Hemant Soren seeking their support.
When Mr Nathwani first contested for the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand as an independent in 2008, many legislators of the JMM and RJD had cross-voted in his favour. The second tenure was from 2014 to 2020 when he got elected to Rajya Sabha with support of the BJP and the AJSU. Nathwani got elected to the Rajya Sabha for a third term from 2020 from Andhra Pradesh, with support of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
His nomination could spell trouble for the Congress which has nominated senior party functionary Pranav Jha for the biennial polls, while the JMM has fielded the former minister Baidyanath Ram for the other seat. The JMM and the Congress had developed serious differences over the allocation of the seats as the JMM wanted to contest on both while the Congress had announced its candidate for one seat even before clearance from the JMM.
The differences, however, was sorted out and the JMM has said the INDIA bloc remains united and the alliance will win both the seats.
