New Delhi, 19 October 2024: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced on Saturday that the INDIA bloc will jointly contest the upcoming state assembly elections, with Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) fielding candidates in 70 of the 81 seats. “Seat-sharing talks are ongoing with other alliance partners—RJD and Left parties—for the remaining 11 seats,” Soren said.
The elections for the 81-member assembly will be held in two phases, on November 13 and 20, with vote counting scheduled for November 23. “It has been decided during the seat-sharing talks that Congress and the JMM will contest 70 of the 81 seats,” Soren stated after discussions with alliance partners. He added that the decision came after consulting with the allies, and candidate announcements will follow shortly.
Soren expressed confidence that the JMM-led coalition would retain power, citing development work carried out during the party’s tenure. Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday announced its seat-sharing arrangement, with the BJP contesting 68 seats, AJSU Party 10, JD(U) 2, and LJP (Ram Vilas) 1.
The filing of nomination papers for 43 constituencies, which will vote in the first phase on November 13, began on Friday and will continue until October 25.
In the 2019 elections, the JMM-led alliance won 47 seats, including 30 for JMM and 16 for Congress, while the BJP secured 25 seats. Smaller parties and independents won the remaining seats. The current strength of the assembly stands at 74, with the JMM-led coalition holding 44 seats. However, two JMM legislators, Nalin Soren and Joba Majhi, are now members of Parliament, and another, Sita Soren, resigned to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket. Borio MLA Lobin Hembrom was recently disqualified under the anti-defection law.
The BJP’s numbers have also dwindled to 23, with two of its MLAs—Dhulu Mahto and Manish Jaiswal—elected to Parliament. Mandu MLA Jaiprakash Bhai Patel, who switched to Congress, was similarly disqualified.
A total of 2.60 crore voters, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters and 1.13 lakh people with disabilities, third-gender individuals, and senior citizens above 85, will be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.
