Another Rajya Sabha Shock For The Congress: Jharkhand Defeat Raises Questions Over Party’s Alliance Management

For the Congress, Rajya Sabha elections are increasingly becoming exercises in squandered arithmetic and failure of leadership in managing the India alliance. Time and again, the party has found itself explaining defeats in contests where the numbers appeared to favour it, whether because of cross-voting, absent legislators, alliance mismanagement or organisational lapses. Jharkhand has now joined that growing list.

On Thursday, the Congress's nominee Pranav Jha suffered a shock defeat to NDA-backed Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani despite the INDIA bloc having the numbers on paper to secure the seat. Jha was expected to receive the support of at least 28 MLAs, enough to ensure victory, but the arithmetic unravelled on polling day, once again exposing the party's difficulties in managing crucial indirect elections and keeping its legislative ranks together.

When the votes were counted, 78 were declared valid and three rejected. Jha secured just 20 votes, while JMM nominee Baidyanath Ram polled 30 and Nathwani 28. Ram and Nathwani were subsequently declared elected.

The setback comes barely days after another embarrassment for the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, where the nomination papers of party candidate Meenakshi Natarajan were rejected by the Returning Officer, paving the way for a BJP victory. Taken together, the two episodes have sharpened questions about the party's organisational preparedness and election management at a time when it is seeking to position itself as the fulcrum of the opposition INDIA bloc.

The result was particularly embarrassing because the ruling alliance in Jharkhand appeared to have the numbers. The INDIA bloc, comprising the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress, RJD, CPI(ML) and other allies, commands 56 legislators in the 81-member assembly, while the NDA's strength stands at 24. Yet Nathwani secured the votes required for victory, pointing to cross-voting within the ruling coalition.

Alliance Fault Lines Surface

The outcome immediately sparked a blame game within the alliance. Congress leaders alleged that some of their allies failed to honour commitments made during negotiations over the second seat. State Congress managers privately pointed towards the RJD and CPI(ML), while leaders of those parties rejected the charge and insisted they had voted in accordance with alliance decisions.

According to leaders familiar with the discussions, Hemant Soren was not entirely comfortable with the Congress's choice of Pranav Jha for the Rajya Sabha seat and had favoured greater consultation before the nomination was finalised. Although the JMM publicly stood by the alliance decision, some leaders privately felt the Congress had overlooked local political considerations while selecting its candidate.

Jha's perceived proximity to Mallikarjun Kharge and the party's central leadership is widely seen as having played a role in his nomination. Jha is considered close to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and has been associated with the party's central leadership, a factor that is believed to have strengthened his candidature despite reservations from the JMM.

Error By Congress Leadership?

Journalist and author Rasheed Kidwai who has followed Congress for last few decades, said ”a lot of thought should have gone in candidate selection and dealing with allies who are crucial in ensuring the victory.” 

He said there seemed to be error of judgment of behalf of the Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in pushing his loyalist on Jharkhand ally JMM despite reservations. 

“Ideally Congress should have taken Hemant Soren in complete confidence. Instead It applied pressure and pushed JMM which is not how you treat someone who will ensure your candidate’s victory. This is the problem. You cannot take your allies for granted.” 

Party Can not Push Around Its Allies 

And there lies the Congress’ leadership aspect of the India alliance. “This behavior reminds me of the  Hindi proverb, Hamare Baap Dada ne Ghee Khayi Thi. Tum Hathli Soongh lo.(Living off ancestral glory won't fill your stomach today.) That cannot be the case anymore,” he added. 

Kidwai gave the example of Praveen Chakravarty’s Rajya Sabha candidature in Tamil Nadu. “The TVK was very keen on having him as the Rajya Sabha candidate so they ensured his victory. That was not at all the case in Jharkhand.”

“Congress fielded 7 and only 5 won. Meenakshi’s case was still a technical one. But I believe that even if her nomination was accepted, at the voting stage it could have gone the other way,” he added.

“There are questions which need to be answered by the Congress leadership. What was the need to  force a loyalist without taking the allies on board? Gone are the days when Rajya Sabha used to be Rajiv Sabha or Indira Sabha, meaning anyone with the blessing of the two Congress leaders would be the member of the upper house,” he added.

A Familiar Pattern of Mismanagement

Beyond the immediate accusations, the defeat has revived a familiar criticism of the Congress leadership. 

The Jharkhand result follows a series of setbacks in recent Rajya Sabha and legislative elections where Congress strategists were accused by allies and even sections within the party of poor floor management, inadequate coordination and a failure to anticipate defections or cross-voting. BJP leaders were quick to portray the latest defeat as evidence of the opposition's inability to maintain unity when confronted with high-stakes electoral contests.

What makes the setback more striking is that both alliances had spent the days before polling taking extraordinary precautions against poaching. NDA legislators were moved to a hotel, while INDIA bloc leaders held meetings to ensure their flock remained intact amid persistent rumours of cross-voting. Those efforts ultimately proved insufficient for the Congress candidate.

For the BJP and its allies, Nathwani's victory is politically significant beyond a single Rajya Sabha seat. The win allows the NDA to project continuing momentum in the Upper House while exposing tensions within opposition ranks. It also strengthens the BJP's argument that opposition unity remains fragile despite repeated public displays of solidarity by INDIA bloc leaders.

From Bihar to Himachal: A Recurring Problem

The Jharkhand setback is not an isolated episode. It is the latest in a series of embarrassing defeats in Rajya Sabha elections that have raised questions within the Congress about organisational discipline, legislative management and its ability to keep allies and lawmakers together during high-stakes contests.

In March this year, the Mahagathbandhan suffered a surprise defeat in the Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar after failing to secure enough votes for its candidate, A.D. Singh. The opposition alliance had hoped to mount a challenge to the NDA, but the plan unravelled when four legislators abstained from voting, including three Congress MLAs and one RJD MLA. Their absence proved decisive and allowed the NDA to sweep all five Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

Even more damaging was the outcome in Himachal Pradesh in February 2024. The Congress government headed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu enjoyed a clear numerical advantage in the 68-member assembly, with 40 MLAs compared to the BJP's 25. Yet senior Congress leader and Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi suffered a stunning defeat in the Rajya Sabha election after six Congress MLAs cross-voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan.

“In each case, the party either failed to prevent cross-voting, could not ensure the presence of its own legislators, or misjudged the cohesion of its alliance partners. The Rajya Sabha elections are quite sensitive and one has to be very sharp and prudent about every aspect of it. For a party seeking to lead the opposition nationally, the recurring setbacks have become as much a story about failure of leadership of the alliance as about deftly and prudently dealing with the numbers on the floor of the assembly,” added Kidwai.