Jharkhand MLAs bargain a price for voting in Rajya Sabha election

A joint sting operation conducted by CNN-IBN and Cobrapost exposed the sale of votes for an amount as little as 50 Lakhs. The Congress has issues notice to all the MLA's who were caught in the camera. Political parties have demanded strong action against all the MLA's who were exposed.

This article was published in IBN politics on August 3rd 2010.

A day after a joint sting operation conducted by CNN-IBN and Cobrapost exposed Jharkhand MLAs who were willing to take as little as Rs 50 lakh to sell their votes in Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress has issued show-cause notice to its MLAs caught on camera.

All India Congress Committee member Keshav Rao, who is also in-charge of Jharkhand has written letters to its MLAs - Rajesh Ranjan, Sawan Lakda and Yogendra Sao - who were shown brokering a deal, in the sting operation.

Rao had earlier assured that the Congress would take action on the issue.

On Monday, within hours of airing the sting operation, political parties demanded strong action against those exposed by the operation.

Senior CPI-M leader and Politburo member Brinda Karat said it was sickening to see elected MLAs of national parties stooping so low for money.

Member of Parliament from Jharkhand and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, whose party colleague Uma Shankar Akela was implicated in the action, too demanded action from the ethics commmittee of the Rajya Sabha.

"It is completely illegal to buy your way through the Rajya Sabha. I think the BJP leadership in the state and at the centre should ask him to explain his remarks," Sinha told CNN-IBN.

Besides political parties, India's Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi has also assured action against those involved. Quraishi said that the Election Commission will seek legal opinion on the way forward.