BJP-backed Nathwani wins Rajya Sabha poll in Jharkhand after cross-voting
This story was originally published at 20:52 IST on 18 June 2026
Register to read our real-time news.Informist, Thursday, Jun. 18, 2026
NEW DELHI – The Bharatiya Janata Party-backed independent candidate Parimal Nathwani won the Rajya Sabha election in Jharkhand, beating Indian National Congress candidate Pranav Jha. Nathwani is director of corporate affairs at Reliance Industries Limited.
The other seat was won by Baijnath Ram of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Baijnath Ram polled 30 votes, Nathwani got 28 votes, and Jha got 19 votes. Three votes--two from BJP legislators and one from a Congress legislator--were declared invalid.
With 56 members in the 81-member Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance had the exact number of votes required to win two seats. The JMM has 34 legislators, Congress 16, Rashtriya Janata Dal four, and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, two. The Congress candidate got votes from the party's 16 legislators and four from ally JMM.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, with 24 legislators, was four short of the minimum of 28 first-preference votes required to win. The result shows that some I.N.D.I.A. bloc legislators voted for Nathwani. Jharkhand Congress leader K. Raju accused alliance partners RJD and CPI(ML) Liberation of "betraying" the party and voting for Nathwani.
In a post on X, Nathwani, who has been a member of the Rajya Sabha three times earlier, thanked the BJP leadership for its support. End
Reported by Asim Khan
Edited by Rajeev Pai
For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.
Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.
Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000
Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com
© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.
To read more please subscribe
Share this Story:
