New Delhi: Five MLAs of Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) reportedly helped BJP candidates in the recently held Assam Rajya Sabha (RS) polls.
As NDA has 76 members in the 126-member Assam Assembly, the alliance would not have won both the RS seats from the state without cross-voting.
In the polls which were held on March 31, BJP’s Pabitra Gogoi Margherita contested for one of the seats whereas, Rwngwra Narzary of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) ran for the other.
The opposition parties who were contesting for the one seat have fielded former Assam Congress president Ripun Bora as the joint candidate of the opposition.
As per the result of the polls, Margherita bagged 46 votes and Narzary 44, while Bora managed just 35 votes. All 126 members of the Assembly had voted, with one vote being disqualified.
AIUDF indulges in cross-voting, alleges Congress
Recently, Congress also alleged that the AIUDF indulged in cross-voting in the polls in Assam and cast their vote in favour of the ruling BJP-led alliance’s candidates, resulting in the defeat of the Opposition’s joint nominee.
Addressing a press conference, Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia said that out of 27 Congress MLAs, 25 voted for the joint candidate. One vote was disqualified while another one voted for the ruling alliance’s candidate.
It may be mentioned that AIUDF has raised its tally from 13 to 16 in the last Assembly elections.
BJP becomes first party to cross 100-seat mark after 1988
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become the first party since 1988 to touch the 100-seat mark in the Rajya Sabha with the results of biennial elections to the Upper House.
The rise of BJP numbers in the House has been accompanied by a decline in Congress numbers as the opposition party has lost a string of assembly polls since 2014. The loss of Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party in the recent assembly polls has further brought down Congress numbers and the party will be close to losing the status of Leader of Opposition that its leader has in the House, by July this year.
The BJP and NDA’s growing strength in Rajya Sabha is also likely to translate into the government legislation having a smoother passage in the upper House.
With inputs from agencies
