Ranchi, 19 November (HS). In the second phase of Jharkhand assembly elections, voting is to be held on 38 seats on November 20. In the last phase, voting is to be held on the seats of Koyalanchal and Kolhan. The special thing is that the picture of power in the state depends only on these 38 seats of Jharkhand. Of the 38 seats where voting is to be held, there is a direct contest between the NDA and the Indi alliance on 28 seats. The fate of many senior leaders of the state is at stake on these seats. Whereas there are 10 seats where a triangular contest is being considered.
The veterans whose election fate is at stake include Hemant Soren, Kalpana Soren, Basant Soren, Babulal Marandi, Amar Bauri, Sita Soren, Sudesh Mahato. Everyone’s eyes are also on Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s seat Barhet. Here, BJP has fielded its worker Gamalian Hembram to contest the Chief Minister. However, Barhait seat is considered safe for Hemant Soren, because it has been the stronghold of JMM for almost four decades. If there is any upset then it will be seen as a big defeat for Hemant.
Kalpana Soren is contesting from Muniya Devi on Gandeya assembly seat. Kalpana Soren had won a landslide victory in the by-election held here this year. Since then, Kalpana is active here and is going among the people. In such a situation, it is difficult to challenge him. However, on the other hand, BJP candidate is Munia Devi. Munia Devi has been the president of Giridih Zilla Parishad and has a good hold on the area.
Basant Soren is facing a tough fight in Dumka. Former MP Sunil Soren is in front of him from here. Dumka is considered the stronghold of JMM. JMM’s Stephen Marandi kept winning here from 1980 to 2000. After this, Hemant Soren had won from here in 2019, but in 2020 he resigned from this seat, after which Basant Soren won from here in the by-election. Lewis Marandi had won from here in 2014 on BJP ticket. Apart from this, Sunil Soren has also been the MP of Dumka. In such a situation, Basant is facing challenges on this seat.
This time there are chances of a close contest on Jamtara seat. Here BJP candidate and Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Soren is facing Congress’s Irfan Ansari. Irfan won from here in 2014 and 2019. Apart from this, his father Furkan Ansari also has influence in this field. At the same time, there is a good number of minority voters in Jamtara who are considered to be Congress voters. In such a situation, Sita Soren is facing a tough competition here.
BJP candidate from Dhanwar Assembly seat is Babulal Marandi, while apart from JMM, ML has also fielded its candidate against him. In the 2019 elections, Babulal Marandi had won from here on JVM ticket but this time he is in BJP. Niranjan Rai had filed his nomination from here as an independent, due to which Babulal Marandi was facing challenges, but now that Niranjan has joined BJP, Babulal Marandi must have heaved a sigh of relief. From here, JMM’s Nizamuddin Ansari and ML’s Rajkumar Yadav are in the fray.
Pakur Assembly seat was won by Alamgir Alam of Congress in the 2019 elections. This time he is not contesting the elections because he is in jail for the last six months in a money laundering case. But from here Congress has made Nishat Alam, wife of Alamgir Alam, its candidate. Azhar Islam of AJSU is contesting against them. Apart from this, Akil Akhtar is also contesting from here on SP ticket.
BJP’s Anant Ojha is the candidate from Rajmahal assembly seat while JMM has fielded MT Raja from here. Anant has won from here consecutively in 2014 and 2019. This time he is in the field with the hope of scoring a hat-trick. However, he is facing tough competition from JMM. JMM rebel and BJP candidate Lobin Hembram is in the fray from Borio assembly seat. Here he faces competition from JMM’s Dhananjay Soren. Lobin has been a five-time MLA from this seat but in the Lok Sabha elections, he got only 14 thousand votes from Borio region. At the same time, there is also JLKM candidate Surya Narayan Hansda, who is making the election interesting.
This time, JMM has fielded Hemlal Murmu as its candidate for Littipara assembly seat, while BJP has fielded Babudhan Murmu. In the 2019 elections, Dinesh Marandi had won from here on JMM ticket. His family has considerable influence in this area. His father Simon Marandi and Sushila Devi have also been MLAs from here. Now Dinesh is in BJP, so it has to be seen whether he is able to get votes for BJP or not.
In Maheshpur assembly seat, Stephen Marandi is on JMM ticket and Naveen Hembram is on BJP ticket. Maheshpur is considered as the stronghold of JMM. In such a situation, if Naveen wins here, he will get a different identity.
Alok Soren, son of MP Nalin Soren, is contesting on JMM ticket from Shikaripada seat. At the same time, Paritosh is in the fray in front of him on BJP ticket. Nalin Soren has won seven elections from Shikaripada and this time he also won in the Lok Sabha.
Speaker Rabindranath Mahato is contesting on JMM ticket from Nala assembly seat while BJP’s Madhav Chandra is challenging him from here. Rabindranath had won from here in 2014 and 2019. In such a situation, he is contesting the elections with the intention of scoring a hat-trick. This time the contest on Jama assembly seat is quite interesting. Sita Soren was winning the last three elections on JMM ticket from here, but now she is in BJP. Lewis Marandi, who joined JMM from BJP, is now trying her luck from here. Here he is contesting against BJP’s Suresh Murmu. Last time Suresh had given a tough competition to Sita Soren.
Badal Patralekh is contesting on Congress ticket from Jarmundi Assembly seat. He was a minister in the Jharkhand government and had also won in 2014 and 2019. Here his competition is with BJP’s Devendra Kunwar. Devendra has also won elections from here twice.
Hafizul Hasan is contesting from Madhupur assembly seat on JMM ticket. He is also a minister in the Jharkhand government. At the same time, Ganga Narayan Singh is in front of him from BJP ticket. These two candidates also had a contest in the 2022 by-election, in which Hafizul won in a tough contest.
JMM has fielded Uday Shankar alias Chunna Singh as its candidate for Sarath assembly seat. Chunna has won from here four times as a candidate from different parties and as an independent candidate. Whereas Randhir Singh had won from here in 2014 and 2019.
RJD has made Suresh Paswan its candidate for Deoghar assembly seat. Here he faces competition from BJP’s Narayan Das. Narayan Das has won elections from here twice consecutively in 2014 and 2019. At the same time, Suresh Paswan has represented this area and lost the last election by a very small margin of votes.
Congress’s Pradeep Yadav is contesting against BJP’s Devendra Nath Singh on Podaiyahat assembly seat. Pradeep Yadav has been MLA from here five times. However, he won the last two elections on JVM ticket. This is the first time that he is contesting elections on Congress ticket.
Amit Mandal is contesting on BJP ticket from Godda assembly seat. Here he is competing against RJD’s Sanjay Yadav. Amit Mandal has won the elections in 2014 and 2019 and this time he is in the fray with the intention of scoring a hat-trick. Sanjay Yadav has also been MLA from here twice.
Deepika Pandey is once again in the fray on Congress ticket from Mahagama assembly seat. His competition is against BJP’s Ashok Bhagat. Deepika had won from here in the 2019 assembly elections, but before this Ashok Bhagat had been MLA from here twice. In such a situation, the competition here is quite interesting.
AJSU’s Sunita Devi and Congress’s Mamta Devi are in the fray for Ramgarh assembly seat. Mamta Devi had won from here in the 2019 elections on Congress ticket. But the court found him guilty in one case, after which he lost his membership. In the by-election held thereafter, Chandraprakash Choudhary’s wife Sunita Devi won from here on AJSU Party ticket. Once again there is a tough contest between Sunita Devi and Mamta Devi. JP Patel of Congress and Tiwari Mahato of AJSU are in the fray for Mandu Assembly seat. JP Patel had won from here in 2019, but he became the Congress candidate in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in which he had to face defeat. Once again he is the Congress candidate in Mandu. He is facing challenge from AJSU’s Tiwari Mahato and JLKM candidate Parmeshwar Kumar.
Vinod Kumar of CPI(ML) is the candidate of India Alliance on Bagodar Assembly seat. Here he has won in 2005, 2009 and 2019. In 2014, he was defeated by Nagendra Mahato. Once again he is in competition with Nagendra Mahato. In Jamua, Manju Devi is contesting on BJP ticket, while Kedar Hazra is contesting on JMM ticket. The case was reverse in the 2019 elections. Kedar Hazra was in BJP and Manju Devi was in Congress. There was a tough contest between the two and Kedar Hazra had won. Once again both are face to face, although both have changed parties.
In Giridih, there is once again a contest between JMM’s Sudivya Kumar Sonu and BJP’s Nirbhay Shahabadi. In 2019, Sudivya defeated Nirbhay. Nirbhay Shahabadi has also won elections from here twice. The contest on Dumri assembly seat has become quite interesting. On one hand, Minister Baby Devi from JMM is in the fray, she is the wife of four-time MLA Jagarnath Mahato, while on the other hand, Yashoda Devi from AJSU Party is contesting her. Between these two, JLKM candidate Jairam Mahato has also made this election interesting.
JMM’s Yogendra Mahato is contesting against AJSU’s Lambodar Mahato on Gomiya Assembly seat. At the same time, JLKM’s Pooja Kumari has made this contest triangular. Congress candidate Kumar Jaimangal Singh is contesting against Ravindra Pandey on Bermo assembly seat. At the same time, JLKM candidate and president Jairam Mahato is also contesting from here, where he had got a good lead in the Lok Sabha elections.
There is a contest between Shweta Singh of Congress and Biranchi Narayan of BJP on Bokaro Assembly seat. Biranchi Narayan had won from here in 2014 and 2019. However, in the 2019 elections, Shweta gave a tough competition to Biranchi Narayan. His father-in-law Samaresh Singh has been MLA from this seat several times.
BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri is contesting against Umakant Rajak on Chandankiyari Assembly seat. Amar Kumar Bauri has won from here in 2014 and 2019. Umakant Rajak, who was AJSU’s candidate from here both times, gave him a tough competition. This time Umankat is facing him on JMM ticket.
BJP has made Inderjit Mahato’s wife Tara Devi its candidate for Sindri assembly seat. Indrajit Mahato has been ill for a long time. His wife Tara Devi has been a member of the Zilla Parishad. His competition is against Chandradev Mahato of CPI(ML).
Aparna Sengupta is contesting on BJP ticket from Nirsa assembly seat. Here he is contesting against CPI(ML) candidate Arup Chatterjee. Arup has been MLA from here twice. Whereas in 2019, Aparna had won here.
BJP candidate Raj Sinha is contesting from Congress’s Ajay Dubey on Dhanbad assembly seat. Raj Sinha has won from here consecutively in 2014 and 2019. Ajay Dubey was a candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but he lost the election and stood second.
Once again the sister-in-law is competing with her sister-in-law on the Jharia assembly seat. Here Purnima Neeraj Singh is the candidate on Congress ticket, while Ragini Singh is in the fray on BJP ticket. Last time also both were face to face but Purnima had won. Mathura Mahato from JMM is in the fray for Tundi assembly seat. Whereas Vikas Mahato is contesting on BJP ticket. Apart from these, Motilal Mahtone, on JLKM ticket, has made the contest triangular.
Dhullu Mahato won from Baghmara Assembly seat consecutively in 2014 and 2019 but now he has become an MP. His elder brother Shatrughan Mahato is contesting from this seat on BJP ticket. In 2019, Jaleshwar Mahato lost to Dhullu Mahato by a very narrow margin of votes.
Everyone’s eyes are going to be on Silli assembly seat. Former Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand Sudesh Mahato is contesting from here. Here he is competing with Amit Mahato. Amit Mahato has also defeated Sudesh Mahato once. JLKM candidate Devendra Nath Mahato is making this contest more interesting.
