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The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has unveiled its first list of 35 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections, scheduled to take place in two phases on November 13 and 20. Chief Minister Hemant Soren is set to contest from the Barhait constituency, while his wife, Kalpana Soren, will stand in Gandey. This decision was made public on Wednesday, and according to PTI, results for the election will be declared on November 23.
Hemant Soren, the incumbent MLA from Barhait, successfully secured the seat in the 2019 elections with a majority of 25,740 votes over his nearest Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rival, Simon Malto. His wife Kalpana Soren won the Gandey bypoll by a margin of 27,149 votes against BJP's Dilip Kumar Verma. The Gandey seat had fallen vacant after the resignation of Sarfaraz Ahmad, the JMM MLA at the time.
Basant Soren, Hemant Soren's brother, has been fielded from Dumka, a key constituency for the JMM. In the last election, Basant Soren defeated former BJP minister Lois Marandi by 6,842 votes. Dumka is seen as a JMM stronghold, a seat formerly held by Hemant Soren until he opted to retain Barhait following his win in both Dumka and Barhait in the 2019 elections. Hemant had defeated Marandi by a margin of 13,188 votes in Dumka during that election.
The party has also named other prominent leaders in this first list of candidates. Speaker Rabindranath Mahto will contest from Nala, Mithilesh Thakur from Garhwa, and Sonu Sudivya from Giridih. Bebi Devi, who recently won the Dumri seat in a bypoll, has been chosen to stand again from Dumri.
The JMM also selected several other key candidates, including Dipak Birua for Chaibasa, former BJP MLA Kedar Hazara for Jamua, and MT Raja for Rajmahal. Dhananjay Soren will contest from Borio, Stephen Marandi from Maheshpur, and Alok Soren from Shikaripara, among others.
The alliance under the INDIA bloc will see the JMM and Congress contesting a majority of the 81 assembly seats, with JMM and Congress fielding candidates in 70 seats combined, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Left parties will share the remaining 11. The RJD has already announced candidates for six seats.
On the other hand, the opposition BJP plans to contest 68 seats, while its ally, the AJSU Party, will take 10. The JD(U) will contest two seats, and the LJP (Ram Vilas) has been allocated one seat.
As per PTI, the nomination process for the 43 constituencies that will go to the polls on November 13 began last Friday and will continue until October 25. This election will see a total of 2.60 crore eligible voters, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters and 1.13 lakh individuals with disabilities, as well as members of the third gender and senior citizens above 85 years old, according to PTI.
This election will be a crucial one for Jharkhand, with key political alliances and parties vying for dominance in the state.
(With inputs from PTI)
