The two candidates nominated by the ruling Congress —former State Education Minister Ripun Bora and former Union Minister Ranee Narah — won both the Rajya Sabha seats in Assam on Monday; cross voting by BJP and BPF members helped Congress’ cause.
There were three candidates in the fray for the two Rajya Sabha seats, currently held by Congress’ Pankaj Bora and Naznin Faruque. Both the seats will fall vacant on April 2 this year.
While the Congress nominated Bora and Narah for the two seats, city-based businessman Mahavir Jain had also filed nomination as an Independent candidate. Jain was backed by Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), the ruling party in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
Although Bora polled 39 votes, one of the votes cast by Congress legislator Robin Bordoloi got canceled due to technical reasons. Narah, however, got 47 votes.
Surprisingly, the BPF, who backed Jain, decided to abstain from voting alleging that the Independent candidate has entered into some understanding with the Congress.
Apart from 68 Congress legislators, 16 All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) legislators voted for the Congress candidates. Although the BJP had decided to abstain from voting, BJP legislator from Patacharkuchi, Manoranjan Das-who was denied party ticket for the forthcoming Assembly polls-cast his vote for the Congress candidate.
Addressing the media later in the evening, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said “now, people of the State will realise that I have support from across the parties,” he added.
PCC president Anjan Dutta said “this is a signal before the Assembly polls. We will show the same performance there too”. “Earlier I was sure of winning 70 seats but now I am confident of winning at least 78 seats in the Assembly polls,” he said.