Nomination papers of all three candidates for RS poll valid

The nomination papers of the three candidates - two of the BJP and one of Congress for the Rajya Sabha election from Jharkhand were found valid after scrutiny, an official of the state Assembly said.
Sameer Uranv and Pradeep Kumar Sonthalia of BJP had filed their nomination yesterday while Dheeraj Sahu of Congress had filed his papers for the RS poll.
The official said a candidate needs 27 first preference votes to get elected in the Rajya Sabha poll scheduled to be held on March 23.
In the 80-member Jharkhand Assembly, the ruling BJP has 43 MLAs and its ally AJSU 4, while opposition Congress has 7 and JMM has 18 MLAs.

JVP(P) has 2 MLAs, while the BSP, MCC, and CPIML(L) has one legislators each. There are 3 Independents also
BJPs Jharkhand unit spokesman Praveen Prabhakar claimed in a press release that the Congress candidate neither has the full support of the JMM nor the entire opposition.

''The JMM and the Congress are levelling charges of horse trading against the BJP. This is like the thief blaming the police,'' he said and claimed that the Congress did not have the required number.
''That (lack of required number) is the reason why Congress is indulging in horse trading.''
The Congress has claimed that JMM will support its candidate in the Rajya Sabha poll.