Ranchi: The upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand may see a close contest, especially on those 9 seats where the victory margin in the 2019 elections was less than 5,000 votes. The history of elections shows that no single party has ever got absolute majority in Jharkhand.
In such a situation, those seats on which victory or defeat was decided last time by a small margin of votes, may prove to be important for the NDA and India alliance this time. However, the number of seats with narrow margins was 19 in the 2014 elections, which came down to 9 in 2019, making the contest even more interesting this time.
In the year 2019, the victory-defeat margin was less on 9 seats.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the victory margin on 9 out of 81 seats was very small, which clearly shows that there is a tough contest between the parties involved in the NDA and the Grand Alliance in the state. These nine seats include Deoghar, Godda, Koderma, Mandu, Baghmara, Jarmundi, Simdega, Nala and Jama. Last time, five of these seats were won by BJP, while two seats each were won by JMM and Congress. However, during the Lok Sabha elections 2024, BJP and its ally AJSU Party had won on eight of these seats, while Congress had won on one seat. had won.
The minimum victory margin in Simdega is 285 votes.
The minimum victory margin was 285 votes in Simdega seat, where Congress defeated BJP. In Baghmara also, BJP defeated Congress by only 824 votes. Interestingly, out of the 19 seats where the victory margin was less than 5,000 in the 2019 elections, the results on 14 seats were different from the 2014 elections.
The election results of 2014 and 2019 were different
Candidates who came second on seats with narrow margins in the 2014 elections performed brilliantly in 2019 and captured many seats. JMM won five seats where it had lost in 2014. Similarly, BJP also won three such seats in 2019 where it had to be content with second place in 2014. These include Torpa seat, where BJP lost to JMM by only 43 votes in 2014.
Overall, Jharkhand assembly elections with narrow margins may witness a tough fight between India and NDA. It will be interesting to see which party succeeds in winning these seats in the 2023 elections.