Ranchi, June 18 -- The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's (JMM) Baidyanath Ram and National Democratic Alliance-backed Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani won the two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand on Thursday. While Ram cruised to a comfortable victory, Nathwani's win triggered sharp allegations of cross-voting within the state's ruling alliance.

Baidyanath Ram secured 30 first-preference votes while Nathwani received 28, the minimum number of first-preference votes that a candidate needed to win. The third candidate, Pranav Jha of the Congress, received only 20 votes.

All 81 MLAs in the Jharkhand assembly cast their votes, but three votes were declared invalid. Officials, however, did not disclose whose votes were invalidated.

The JMM can...