By IANS
Ranchi : Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee J.P.N. Singh were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand Wednesday.
Of the total, Singh secured 35 and Nathwani 16 first preference votes. Nathwani was declared winner on the second preference votes.
Another Independent, R.K. Anand, secured 17 votes but Nathwani got five votes of second preference.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Kishore Lal secured only eight votes, though the party has 17 legislators.
Of the total 81 members of the assembly, 78 cast their votes, but Chief Minister Madhu Koda, Ramchandra Ram of Communist Party of India (CPI) and Vinod Singh of Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) abstained.
Koda said: “The UPA (ruling United Progressive Alliance) failed to find a consensus candidate and this is the reason I did not cast my vote.”
Two votes were found invalid.