Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das has been accused of influencing the Rajya Sabha polls.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das has found himself in the middle of a controversy after being accused of horse-trading during last month's Rajya Sabha elections.
On Friday, the President of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, Babulal Marandi, released an audio tape of Mr Das, a BJP leader, purportedly trying to pressurise Yogendra Sao, a former Congress legislator who faces criminal charges, and his wife Nirmala Devi, a Congress legislator.
According to Mr Marandi, a day before the voting on June 11, Raghubar Das drove to the residence of Yogendra Sao in a private car.
Mr Sao said he recorded the conversation in which he can be heard talking about pending cases against him and Raghubar Das telling him not to worry as he will "take care of everything".
Next day, Nirmala Devi was seen arriving for the voting accompanied by several Congress legislators but when results came, both the BJP candidates emerged as winners while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Basant Shoren lost.
The unexpected loss was attributed to horse-trading by many in the state. As many as eleven Jharkhand legislators, some of them now former, are facing CBI inquiries due to cross-voting.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das is yet to respond to the allegations.