Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2024: Battle of bastions and bloodlines as JMM faces key test in 2nd phase

With the first phase of elections in 43 constituencies over, all eyes are on the remaining 38 seats in Jharkhand, where polling is slated for November 20. These 38 seats, mostly in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) bastion, will likely decide who will rule Jharkhand for the next five years.

Out of these 38 seats, 18 fall under the Santhal Pargana region. A JMM stronghold, the I.N.D.I.A alliance had swept its bastion by winning 14 out of 18 seats. The JMM won nine seats, while the Congress secured five. The remaining four seats were won by the BJP.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren is contesting from Barhait in Sahebganj, while his brother Basant Soren has been fielded from Dumka, a seat Hemant won in 2019. Hemant had also won from Barhait in 2019. However, he retained Barhait and resigned from Dumka, where his brother Basant made his poll debut and romped home.

War in parivar

Close to Dumka is the Jama seat, where Hemant’s estranged sister-in-law Sita Soren is contesting as the BJP candidate. A widow of Hemant's elder brother Durga Soren, Sita was the JMM MLA from Jama until recently, before crossing over to the BJP after a bitter and prolonged feud with Hemant.

Another interesting battle in Jharkhand is in Gandey in Giridih district, where Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren is in the fray. She made her electoral debut in May this year, winning the bypoll while her husband was languishing in jail in a money laundering case.

"It's true that the tribals and Muslims, who constitute more than 40% of the electorate, will rally around Kalpana. But the BJP has fielded a joint NDA candidate, Muniya Devi, a grassroots BJP worker who is giving Kalpana a good fight," said Dharamveer Sinha, a senior political commentator from Jharkhand.

Gandey has been a JMM stronghold, with the party winning six out of 11 elections held since 1977, the year this constituency came into being. The Congress and the BJP have each won twice, while the Janata Party has won once.

While the BJP top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath, have been reiterating the 'bantenge toh katenge' (divided we fall) slogan, Hemant Soren has been countering it with 'katenge nahi, hum kutengey' (we won’t be divided, we will make them bite the dust).

With both NDA and I.N.D.I.A giving each other a tough fight in a straight contest, Jharkhand appears to be heading for a photo finish.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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