Ranchi: A day after NDA corralled all its 24 legislators into a city hotel, Congress followed suit on Wednesday on the eve of Rajya Sabha election for two seats in the state.Congress spokesperson Lal Kishorenath Shahdeo said as per the plan, all party MLAs along with poll observers, will depart for the state assembly together at 9 am. The voting will take place from 9 am to 4pm and counting is expected to begin from 5 pm.AICC Jharkhand affairs in-charge K Raju and state party president Keshav Mahto Kamlesh along with other senior functionaries held a series of meetings with Congress MLAs to finetune modalities. “Both INDIA bloc candidates will win,” reiterated Kamlesh, adding that the meetings are part of routine preparations ahead of the election. Later in the evening, chief minister Hemant Soren also huddled with all INDIA bloc MLAs at his residence. “Mock poll was conducted on Tuesday night which was smooth,” said an MLA. Another mock poll was conducted on Wednesday night.NDA, which is backing independent candidate and outgoing Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh, Parimal Nathwani, released a group picture of all its 24 MLAs along with party president Aditya Sahu on Thursday after mock poll training, from the hotel.“State president Aditya Sahu and leader of the opposition Babulal Marandi briefed the MLAs on the voting process since many are new to the assembly. NDA is confident about the victory of the candidate it is backing,” BJP said in a statement.In the 81-member assembly, a candidate requires 28 first-preference votes to win. With 56 MLAs, INDIA bloc will clinch both the seats if its entire flock remains intact. NDA, with 24 MLAs, is short by 4.Sahu said, “MLAs from the opposition camp will vote for Nathwani based on their conscience and national interest.”In response, Congress spokesperson Shahdeo said, “There is widespread dissatisfaction among NDA MLAs regarding the ‘outsider’ candidate.”
