Jharkhand Assembly polls Phase 1: The key battles to watch out for

Vote casting for the first phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections is slated for Wednesday. Forty-three of eighty one seats will go to polls as electors come to a decision the fate of 683 candidates. From Champai Soren of the BJP to JMM’s Mahua Maji, listed below are one of many most important candidates within the fray

read more

Jharkhand will vote in two phases to elect the eighty one-member Assembly. Representational Photo/PTI

Jharkhand is going to the polls on Wednesday (November 13). As many as 1.37 crore voters will exercise their franchise within the first phase of the Jharkhand Assembly elections, sealing the fate of 683 candidates.

Of the eighty one Assembly constituencies, Forty three will vote on Wednesday. The remaining will go to polls on November 20 within the 2d and final phase. The counting of votes shall be done on November 23.

Let’s take a more in-depth look.

Jharkhand Assembly election 2024

The first phase of voting within theJharkhand Assembly election shall be held from 7 am to 5 pm. Alternatively, it could possibly well well be over by four pm in some booths and those standing within the queue shall be allowed to vote.

As many as 15,344 polling stations have been erected for the first phase, with 12,716 booths in rural areas and a pair of,628 booths in urban areas.

As per the Association of Democratic Reforms, 235 of the 682 candidates contesting for the duration of this phase are crorepatis. Kandomani Bhumij, an self reliant candidate fighting from the Potka (ST) constituency in East Singhbhum district, is the wealthiest candidate, with declared total assets worth Rs 80 crore.

Sushil Topno of the Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha is the poorest contestant in phase 1, with declared total assets of just Rs 7,000. He is within the race from the Sisai (ST) constituency within the Gumla district.

Within the 2019 Assembly polls, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance emerged victorious, winning Forty seven out of the eighty one seats. The Bharatiya Janata Birthday party (BJP) had bagged 25 seats.

This time, the JMM is contesting Forty three seats, while its alliance partners Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Left parties have fielded candidates on 30, six and three seats, respectively.

The BJP is fighting sixty eight seats, while its National Democratic Alliance allies – All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), Janata Dal United (JDU) and Lok Janshakti Birthday party (Ram Vilas) – are contesting the rest seats (10, two and one respectively).

Jharkhand Assembly election 2024: Key seats

Of the Forty three seats going to polls, 17 are reserved for the overall category, 20 for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and six for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

The important thing seats to observe out for within the first phase are Ranchi, Seraikella, Jamshedpur East, Jamshedpur West and Jagannathpur.

The opposite seats that shall be voting within the first phase encompass Kodarma, Barkatha, Barhi, Barkagaon, Hazaribagh, Simaria (SC), Chatra (SC), Baharagora, Ghatsila (ST), Potka (ST), Jugsalai (SC), Ichagarh, Chaibasa (ST), Majhgaon (ST), Manoharpur (ST), Chakradharpur (ST), Kharsawan (ST), Tamar (ST), Torpa (ST), Khunti (ST), Hatia, Kanke (SC), Mandar (ST), Sisai (ST), Gumla (ST), Bishunpur (ST), Simdega (ST), Kolebira (ST), Lohardaga (ST), Manika (ST), Latehar (SC), Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur (SC), Hussainabad, Garhwa and Bhawanathpur.

Jharkhand Assembly election 2024: Key battles

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren is within the fray from Seraikella. He left the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in August to enroll in the BJP after being removed from the CM’s post “insultingly”.

As he fights on a saffron party ticket, Soren will face Ganesh Mahali, who's the JMM candidate. Interestingly, Mahali has defected from the BJP. Soren, who change into with the JMM at the time, defeated him within the 2014 and 2019 Assembly elections.

In Jamshedpur East, Congress’ Ajoy Kumar is squaring off with Purnima Das Sahu, the daughter-in-law of former Jharkhand CM and current Odisha Governor Raghubar Das.

Kumar, who once served because the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Jamshedpur, is leveraging his image as a not easy cop. Alternatively the duty is cut out for him as Jamshedpur East is a BJP stronghold. Kumar is being viewed because the Congress’ strongest candidate for the seat in years.

JMM’s Mahua Maji is fighting the election from the Ranchi Assembly seat. She is taking on the sitting BJP MLA CP Singh. Ranchi is seen as a BJP bastion, with Singh having won the seat six times.

Maji, who holds a PhD in sociology, is the first woman from Jharkhand to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. Within the 2019 Assembly polls, Singh trounced Maji by a margin of greater than 5,000 votes. She had also lost the 2014 Assembly polls from Ranchi.

Saryu Roy is the JDU candidate from Jamshedpur West. He is pitted against Banna Gupta of the Congress. In 2019, Banna had defeated Devendra Nath Singh of the BJP by a margin of 22,583 votes.

Roy had won the 2019 Assembly elections from Jamshedpur East, defeating BJP’s Raghubar Das.

In Jagannathpur, BJP’s Geeta Koda is up against the incumbent Congress MLA Sona Ram Sinku. Koda is the wife of former CM Madhu Koda. She quit Congress to enroll in the BJP before the previous Assembly elections. Their other challengers are Jharkhand Birthday party’s Laxmi Narayan Gagrai and Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha’s Lakshmi Narayan Laguri.

With inputs from agencies