Ranchi, March 20: Ajsu Party president Sudesh Mahto has said that while he voted for JMM candidate Sanjeev Kumar in the countermanded Rajya Sabha election of 2012, he had no idea who his party MLAs voted for.

Mahto, then an MLA from Silli, recorded his statement today before a special CBI court in Ranchi that is probing the circumstances under which Election Commission called off the 2012 biennial polls in Jharkhand after income tax authorities seized Rs 2.15 crore cash from a vehicle linked to Independent candidate R.K. Agrawal from the outskirts of the state capital on March 30, the day of voting.

Today, Mahto, a witness in the case, was asked whom he and four of his party MLAs had voted for in the election. The prosecution also sought to know whether he had given any directives to his MLAs regarding which candidate to vote for.

In his reply, court sources said, Mahto claimed he had voted for JMM candidate Sanjeev Kumar as per an understanding with the JMM and that his party, the Ajsu, had not fielded any candidate in the election.

As for the other Ajsu Party MLAs - four in all - he claimed he had no knowledge of their preferences.

The prosecution informed the court of Satya Prakash that in all, Ajsu Party had five MLAs in the previous Assembly when notification for the elections to the two Rajya Sabha seats of the state was issued.

It also informed the court that except Sudesh, the rest of his party MLAs voted for industrialist Pawan Kumar Dhoot, who contested as an Independent.

In the course of investigations, CBI - it took up the case following a Jharkhand High Court order - filed a chargesheet against Dhoot, Agrawal, JMM MLA Sita Soren, her father B.N. Manjhi and her aide Rajendra Mandal, besides Dhoot's election agent S.K. Maheshwari for offering and accepting money in return for votes.

While Manjhi is absconding the others are on bail.