Maulana Badruddin Ajmal’s five MLAs reportedly cross voted for BJP candidates in Rajya Sabha election

New Delhi, 04 April 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: The All India United Democratic Front’s (AIDUF) five MLAs, led by Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal Qasmi, reportedly cross-voted, clearing the way for the victory of the BJP’s both candidates in the biennial election for  the Upper House of Parliament of India  from Assam.

Given the party composition of the Assam legislative assembly, the ruling party would have secured only one seat from the state but as many as seven Congress MLAs also joined the AIDUF’s defectors rank ensuring the win of the BJP’s two candidates from the state. With this win, the BJP became the first party since 1988 to reach 100 seats in the Rajya Sabha.

In the 126-member legislative house, at least 43 votes were required for each successful candidate. A total of 15 opposition MLAs including 3BPF MLAs   cross voted in the favour of the BJP candidates in the election held on March 31.

The BJP-led ruling NDA has 76 members in the 126-member Assam assembly – 60 from BJP, nine from AGP and seven from the UPPL.

The last Assam MLAs election was held in May 2021. BJP has won 60 seats; INC has won 29 seats, AIDUF 16   and others 21 seats.

Pabitra Gogoi Margherita of the BJP ran for one of the seats, while Rwngwra Narzary of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) ran for the other. Narzary is the head of the UPPL, which has seven members in the House of Representatives.

Former Assam Congress president Ripun Bora was the joint candidate of the Opposition parties for the one seat they were contesting.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently stated that the Congress is unaware of how many of its MLAs were planning to defect to the BJP. “In the Rajya Sabha elections, candidates are also not required to follow the party’s whip.” We will be able to get both seats based on this computation,” he had stated.

This shows how much money power influenced the outcome of the Rajya Sabha’s biennial election.

Is it any surprise that the Northeast has a long history of political desertion, with money playing a significant role in shifting political allegiances?

“If you have enough money,” a prominent politician from the NorthEast once told this scribe, “you can win elections and legislatures because, unlike north India, each constituency has a few electors.”

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is also a congress defector who joined BJP ahead of the 2016 assembly election.

Meanwhile, the alleged treachery of the Ajmal party’s five MLAs has shocked the state. In the last election, the AIUDF raised its tally from 13 to 16, with several of the MLAs said to be madrasa graduates, or ‘Mualanas’ in common parlance. Maulana Ajmal himself is a Darul Uloom Deoband graduate and a perfume baron.

On the condition of anonymity, a Muslim MLA from the Congress told Muslim Mirror that Maulana Ajmal always served his own interests over the interests of the community.

With PTI inputs.