The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which is a part of the INDIA bloc, will lock horns with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and Janata Dal (United) apart from the BJP in the state
The Jharkhand Assembly elections 2024 will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20 and the results would be out on November 23 as per the poll schedule announced for the state by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday.
The term of the Jharkhand assembly ends on January 5 next year. The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which is a part of the INDIA bloc, will lock horns with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and Janata Dal (United) apart from the BJP in the state. In 2019, Hemant Soren’s JMM had won 30 seats while the Congress bagged 16 seats paving way for Soren to be sworn in as chief minister.
However, in January 2024, trouble came knocking on Soren’s door as he was arrested in an alleged land scam case. After five months in jail, when he finally walked out on June 28, he hit out at the BJP and said that the people of the country had taught them a lesson in the general elections as the party fell short of the majority mark of its own.
In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the JMM-led coalition got six seats. The JMM got three seats on its own, with the Congress getting two. The BJP won seven seats, while its ally, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union, got one. However, they lost all the five ST-reserved seats to the JMM coalition.
Soren recently said the JMM-led alliance will contest all 81 seats in the assembly elections.
Expressing confidence in the party’s electoral preparedness and asserting that the alliance will regain power in the state, he said: “I participated in the JMM central committee meeting today along with all other workers and executive committee members. We reviewed our election preparedness and we are confident of winning the assembly elections. The JMM-led alliance will contest all the 81 seats.”
The Congress on Tuesday said it will contest the Jharkhand assembly elections in alliance with the JMM, with a final decision on seat sharing expected soon. “We will contest elections with our alliance partners in the state. A final decision on the seat sharing will be done soon. We are confident of winning elections on the back of development works done by us,” Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Keshav Mahto said.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is one of the in-charges of the BJP for the assembly polls, said the seat-sharing arrangement among NDA partners for the elections was “almost final”, and the first list of candidates would be announced within 48 hours of the declaration of the polls.
As per the seat-sharing arrangement, the Sudesh Mahto-led AJSU Party will contest 9-11 seats, he said.
