Ranchi

Legislators of the opposition NDA in Jharkhand were being moved to a hotel here days ahead of polls to two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, a source in the alliance said.

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Babulal Marandi said they will hold meetings to chalk out a strategy for the elections on June 18.

Asking if the MLAs would stay at the hotel for two days, he said, "We will hold meetings." The BJP leader exuded confidence in the victory of the BJP-backed Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani in one of the two Rajya Sabha seats in the state.

A candidate is required to secure a minimum of 28 first-preference votes to emerge victorious.

The BJP-led NDA does not have the numbers in the state assembly to make Nathwani a winner in the polls, unless there is cross-voting, a ruling party legislator said.

In the Jharkhand Assembly, the INDIA bloc has 56 members, comprising 34 from the JMM, 16 from the Congress, four from the RJD and two from CPI(ML) Liberation.

The NDA has 24 MLAs -- 21 from the BJP and one each from the LJP (Ram Vilas), AJSU Party and the JD(U). The Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha has one MLA.

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One of the Rajya Sabha seats in the state fell vacant following the death of JMM co-founder Shibu Soren. The other vacancy is due to the completion of BJP member Deepak Prakash's tenure on June 21.