Congress, JMM legislators stung in Rajya Sabha ‘vote scam’

RANCHI - A sting operation by an investigative portal alleges that at least six legislators of Jharkhand from mainline parties were ready to sell their votes for around Rs.1 crore each in the Rajya Sabha elections in June.

According to the sting operation by Cobra Post and telecast on CNN-IBN news channel Monday, three Congressmen, two of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and one of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were ready to sell their votes in the Rajya Sabha election held June 17.

As per the sting operation, the three Congress legislators who were ready to sell their votes were Sawan Lakra, Rajesh Ranjan and Yogendra Baitha. They allegedly demanded Rs.1 crore each to sell their votes.

The two JMM legislators Teklal Mahto and Simon Marandi were allegedly ready to sell their votes for Rs.1 crore and Rs.2 crore respectively, and BJP legislator Umesh Shankar Akela was ready to sell his vote for Rs.50 lakh and one vehicle.

Congress’ Jharkhand in charge K. Kesav Rao told CNN-IBN that suitable action would be taken against the legislators.

Shailesh Sinha, Jharkhand Congress general secretary and poll agent for the Rajya Sabha poll, told IANS: “The three legislators voted in favour of the Congress nominee. As far as the sting operation is concerned, the party will take action after verifying the facts.”

The JMM has also condemned the incident. “This is unfortunate and we condemn such acts of legislators. But sting operations cannot strengthen our democracy. The boundary of Rajya Sabha elections should be restricted which will minimize the role of money in the poll,” Supriyo Bhattacharya, JMM central committee member, told IANS.

In the Rajya Sabha poll, Congress and JMM nominees Dheeraj Sahu and K.D. Singh had won by securing 28 and 32 votes respectively. The JMM nominee belongs to Chandigarh.