The first phase of voting for 43 Assembly seats in Jharkhand is taking place on November 13 Wednesday where a close contest is in store between the NDA and INDIA Bloc. In the last general elections, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance had bagged 25 of these Assembly seats, while BJP managed only 13. Remaining seats were bagged by Independents (2), NCP (1), and JVM (1). This time, NDA hopes to add more to its tally and the INDIA bloc hopes to consolidate its gains and expand further.
The prestige of six Ministers and several other prominent leaders is at stake in this phase. Among them is former Chief Minister Champai Soren, who joined the BJP just a month after he was ousted from the Chair of Chief Minister, and is contesting from his traditional stronghold in Saraikela. Soren has won this seat six times since 1991, having faced defeat only in 2000. This time, he is locked in a direct battle with Ganesh Mahali of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), who was earlier the BJP candidate here. The twist is that both have switched sides.
Sitting Congress Minister in Hemant Soren's government, Rameshwar Oraon, takes on Neeru Shanti Bhagat of the AJSU Party on the Lohardaga seat. In 2019, a split in the BJP and AJSU Party votes helped Oraon. This time, however, BJP and AJSU are univocal.
Garhwa constituency has a triangular contest in store; sitting MLA from the seat, Minister Mithilesh Thakur will defend it against BJP's Satyendra Nath Tiwari and former Minister of Samajwadi Party Girinath Singh, who too had been MLAs from this constituency.
On Jamshedpur West, Congress Minister Banna Gupta is locked in a straight contest with former Minister Saryu Rai of the JDU. Both had won the seat twice. Rai, who famously defeated then Chief Minister Raghubar Das in the 2019 polls from Jamshedpur East, has now returned to his erstwhile stronghold.
In Chaibasa, JMM Minister Deepak Birua clashes with BJP's first-time contestant Geeta Balmuchu, who has already established a sizeable presence in the local arena, given her active social and political functions.
JMM MLA and Minister Ramdas Soren for Ghatsila will have to survive a tough contest at the hands of Babulal Soren, son of former Chief Minister Champai Soren, who is representing the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is Babulal's electoral debut while his father's reputation will back him.
The Latehar seat is one that's observing a high-stakes tussle between JMM's Baidyanath Ram and BJP's Prakash Ram. Here, the voters traditionally change their MLA with each election cycle. It remains to be seen if Baidyanath can end this trend and get consecutive victories.
Former Speaker and BJP minister C.P. Singh of the high-profile constituency, Ranchi, is facing off with JMM's Dr Mahua Maji, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP.
Meera Munda, wife of former Chief Minister Arjun Munda, BJP is contesting against sitting JMM MLA Sanjeev Sardar from Potka.
Jaganathpur seat: It will be a battle between Geeta Koda, wife of former Chief Minister Madhu Koda, and Congress MLA Sona Ram Sinku.
The battle here is between Congress spokesperson and former IPS officer Ajay Kumar and BJP's Purnima Das Sahu, who is the daughter-in-law of Odisha Governor Raghubar Das. BJP rebel candidate Shivshankar Singh also joins the fray, giving this contest the angle of a triangular contest.
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