2024-04-10 19:00:03
Ranchi: NDA may get the benefit of being the first to announce its candidates in Jharkhand for the Lok Sabha elections. All the NDA candidates have been announced. Only AJSU is with the BJP in the state, while the opposition alliance ‘India’ includes four parties – JMM, Congress, CPI (ML) and RJD. CPI and CPM were also part of ‘India’ earlier, but due to not getting seats, both the left parties have taken different paths. The party leading NDA in Jharkhand has changed its five candidates this time. On the other hand, in ‘India’ till now candidates have been announced for only seven seats. The names of the candidates for seven seats have not been decided yet.
NDA came out ahead in announcing candidates
NDA first announced for total 14 parliamentary seats of Jharkhand. BJP has candidates on 13 seats in the state and BJP has given one seat to its ally AJSU. AJSU has made its sitting MP from Giridih Chandraprakash Chaudhary its candidate. BJP has given new candidates on five seats. Among these, Sita Soren, elder daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren, who left JMM and joined BJP, has been made the candidate from Dumka. Geeta Koda, wife of former CM Madhu Koda, who won the last election from Singhbhum on Congress ticket, will contest from there this time too on BJP ticket. This time BJP has canceled the ticket of Pashupati Nath Singh, who had scored a hat-trick of victory in Dhanbad. In his place, the party has given a chance to BJP’s Baghmara MLA Dhulu Mahato. BJP has also changed its candidates in Dumka, Chatra and Hazaribagh. In Dumka, the party had given ticket to its sitting MP Sunil Soren, but with the arrival of Sita Soren, his ticket was withdrawn. BJP turned its back on Jayant Sinha in Hazaribagh and gave a chance to Kalicharan in place of Sunil Singh in Chatra.
Only seven candidates declared so far in ‘India’
Meanwhile, the opposition alliance ‘India’ has so far been able to announce candidates on only seven seats. Congress has got seven seats in ticket distribution, while JMM is expected to contest on five seats. Chatra seat has gone to RJD and Koderma seat to CPI (ML). So far, Congress has been able to announce candidates only in Khunti, Hazaribagh and Lohardaga seats of its quota of seven seats. Kalicharan Munda will challenge BJP candidate Arjun Munda from Khooti. In Hazaribagh, the party has made Jai Prakash Bhai Patel, who left BJP and joined Congress, as its candidate. Sukhdev Bhagat’s name has been announced from Lohardaga. Congress has not yet been able to select names for the remaining four seats. JMM has also announced only two names so far in its five seats. From Dumka, BJP candidate Sita Saren will be challenged by JMM’s Nalin Soren, while in Giridih, Mathura Mahato will face AJSU candidate Chandra Prakash Choudhary. RJD has won Chatra seat, but it has also staked claim on Palamu seat. From there RJD has given ticket to Mamta Bhuiyan. RJD has not yet announced anyone’s name from Chatra. CPI(ML) has fielded three-time Bagodar MLA Vinod Singh from Koderma seat. He will face BJP’s Annapurna Devi.
Hemant Soren’s arrest became an issue of ‘India’
This time in Jharkhand, the arrest of Hemant Soren will be the biggest election issue for the Lok Sabha. JMM’s performance in the last assembly elections was excellent. In the assembly elections fought under the leadership of Hemant, JMM became the largest party in Jharkhand by winning the maximum number of seats. Congress and RJD were also with JMM. Congress was at second position. BJP had to lose its power. Hemant Soren is currently in jail in the land scam. In his place, JMM’s wife Kalpana Soren is leading the party and the alliance. Recently Kalpana had attended the rally of Indie Alliance held in Delhi. He had raised the issue of arrest of his Hemant Soren. Indi Alliance rally is going to be held at Prabhat Tara Maidan in Ranchi. Now Kalpana Soren is also reviewing its preparations. Through the rally, the alliance leader will accuse BJP of conspiring to arrest Hemant Soren and will also appeal to the people to vote on this basis. That means other issues have become secondary in Jharkhand at present. The opposition alliance will try to capitalize by making the arrest a structural issue.
Four elections, BJP’s seats kept increasing every time
This is the fifth Lok Sabha election after the formation of Jharkhand in the year 2000. Surprisingly, in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had got only one seat, but in 2009 its seats reached eight. In 2014, BJP got 12 seats and in 2019, BJP-AJSU alliance maintained the record of 12. On the other hand, Congress, after securing maximum six seats in 2004, kept falling to one seat continuously. JMM came down from four seats in 2004 to two in 2009. In 2014 and 2019, it had to be satisfied with one seat only. On the Rajmahal seat, Vijay Hansda kept JMM’s honor in 2014 and 2019 despite the wave of Narendra Modi.