In the first phase of the Jharkhand assembly elections, voting will be held tomorrow on November 13 in 43 seats in 15 districts. In which 1.37 crore voters will be included. Out of 43 seats in the first phase, 14 seats are in Kolhan, 13 seats in South Chotanagpur, 9 seats in Palamu and 7 seats in North Chotanagpur division.
According to the Election Commission, 683 candidates are in the fray in the first phase. Out of which 43 are women candidates. 235 are millionaires, while 174 candidates have criminal cases registered against them.
Former CM Champai Soren along with his son Babulal Soren, former CM Arjun Munda's wife Meera Munda, Madhu Koda's wife Geeta Koda, Raghuvar Das's daughter-in-law Poornima Sahu are contesting in this phase.
Voting on 81 assembly seats in the state will be held in two phases on November 13 (today) and November 20. The result will come on November 23. In the 2019 assembly elections, JMM won maximum 29 seats and BJP won 25 seats. Congress has won 18 seats and RJD one. JMM-Congress and RJD together formed the government.
Maximum 158 independent candidates are millionaires The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has prepared a report based on the affidavits of 682 candidates of the first phase of the Jharkhand assembly elections. According to the ADR report, an average of 682 units of properties in Phase-I at Rs. 2.16 crores.
That means 34% i.e. 235 candidates out of 682 are millionaires. He has assets of one crore or more. If we look at the party statistics, out of the 36 BJP candidates, 30 are millionaires.
Criminal cases against 174 candidates According to the ADR report, criminal cases have been registered against 174 candidates i.e. 26% of the 682 candidates. At the same time there are 19% i.e. 127 candidates against whom serious cases like murder, kidnapping are registered. A case of murder has been registered against 4 candidates. At the same time, a case of attempted murder has been registered against 40 candidates. 11 candidates have declared cases related to violence against women.
Hot seat of first phase…
1. Deposed Leader: Champai Soren (BJP) After Hemant Soren went to jail in the land scam, Champai Soren remained the Chief Minister for 5 months. He was number 2 in the JMM government after Hemant Soren. Has been MLA 6 times. He is the biggest leader in the first phase of elections.
Champai was removed from the post of CM after Hemant Soren was released from jail. Angered by this, Champai severed his 40-year-old ties with the JMM and joined the BJP. He has influence on 14 seats of Kolhan. In the 2019 elections, the BJP could not win a single seat in Kolhan. This time the party can win 5-6 seats due to Champai.
2. Ghatshila Leader: Babulal Soren (BJP) This time BJP has made the contest interesting by giving ticket to former Chief Minister Champai Soren's son Babulal Soren from Ghatshila seat. Here, he is faced with JMM candidate Ramdas Soren, the state water resources minister. Ramdas has so far contested assembly elections here five times. In this he has been victorious twice. While Babulal Soren is contesting assembly elections for the first time.
Champai Soren will try his best to win his son. At the same time JMM will use its full strength to win over Ramdas Soren. Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Kalpana Soren have campaigned here. Ghatshila is a Santhal dominated area. Both candidates are Babulal and Ramdas Santhali. In such a situation, the Santhal votes will be divided.
3. Jagannathpur Leader: Geeta Koda (BJP) This time, the battle for tribal reserve Jagannathpur assembly seat has become interesting. The Koda family-dominated seat pits Congress' Sonaram Sinku against former CM Madhu Koda's wife and BJP candidate Geeta Koda. Sinku was once a confidant of Madhu Koda. The Koda family worked hard to win them over in 2019.
None of the Koda family contested the elections in 2019, as Geeta Koda won the Lok Sabha elections. Madhu Koda was elected twice and Geeta Koda was elected as MLA from here in the assembly elections held from 2000 to 2014.
4. Potka Leader: Meera Munda (BJP) JMM has reposed confidence in its sitting MLA Sanjeev Sardar. This time he is facing Meera Munda, wife of former state CM Arjun Munda. Meera is contesting elections for the first time. Sanjeev is going to the people by making the development works done during his tenure an issue.
At the same time Meera is telling people that development does not only mean this. In fact, the seat is attached to some parts of the city, but most of it is rural. There are heaps of problems. The stronger the development promises, the closer they are to victory.
5. Jamshedpur West Leader: Sarayu Rai (JDU) Sarayu Rai, who defeated Chief Minister Raghuvar Das in 2019, is contesting from Jamshedpur West seat this time from JDU. Sarayu Rai had also won from the same seat in 2014. He was a minister in the Raghuvar Das government for 5 years. BJP left after this. won an independent election. Sarayu Rai joined the JDU ahead of the 2024 assembly elections.
Jamshedpur West seat has the highest number of upper caste voters. For this reason JDU has given ticket to Saryu Rai from here. He is facing competition from minister Banna Gupta in the JMM government.
6. Ranchi Leader: Mahua Maji (JMM) In the first phase, Jharkhand's capital Ranchi has a tough fight between BJP and JMM. Here, CP Singh, who has led the BJP to victory since 1997, and JMM's Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji face each other. In 2019, CP Singh defeated Mahua by 5,904 votes. After this JMM sent Maji to Rajya Sabha.
Mahua has been the chairperson of the Jharkhand Women's Commission. The Ranchi assembly seat has a large population of Rajput, Kayasth and Bengali voters. Keeping this in mind JMM has fielded Mahua.
7. Lohardaga Leader: Rameswar Uravan (Congress) Finance Minister Rameswar in the Hemant government is contesting from the ST reserve seat Lohardaga. In 2019, he defeated BJP's Sukhdev Bhagat from Lohardaga seat by 30,242 votes. Rameshwar is the richest leader in the Hemant government. He has assets worth Rs 28 crore.
After taking VRS from the police service in 2004, Uravan entered politics. Lohardaga won from Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket. He was also a minister at the Centre. He lost to BJP's Sudarshan Bhagat in 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Uravan won the 2019 assembly elections. He was made the Finance Minister in the Hemant government. This time his match is again against Sudarshan Bhagat.
This time 2.6 crore voters, more than 29 thousand booths Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said that the total number of voters in the state is 2.6 crore. Out of which 1.29 crore are women voters. While the number of male voters is 1.39 crore.
There are 29 thousand 562 polling stations in the state. Out of which 5 thousand 42 polling stations are in urban areas. There are 24 thousand 520 rural polling stations. 881 voters will vote in each polling station.
The Assembly has 81 seats, of which 44 are general seats, 9 are for Scheduled Castes (SC) and 28 are for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Jharkhand Lok Sabha Election Result Jharkhand has 14 Lok Sabha seats. In the 2024 elections, BJP won 8 seats, JMM 3, Congress 2 and AJSU one.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
