AJSU Party Unveils Candidates for Jharkhand Assembly Elections Including Sudesh Mahto

The AJSU Party, a partner of the NDA in Jharkhand, has announced its initial list of eight candidates for the upcoming state assembly elections. Sudesh Kumar Mahto, the party's leader, will contest from Silli. According to the seat-sharing agreement, the AJSU Party will contest 10 seats, JDU two, and LJP Ram Vilas one. The BJP will field candidates in the remaining 68 constituencies.

Key Candidates and Constituencies

Sudesh Kumar Mahto previously won the Silli seat in 2019 by defeating JMM's Seema Devi with a margin of 20,195 votes. The AJSU Party has also nominated sitting MLA Sunita Choudhary from Ramgarh and Neru Shanti Bhagat from Lohardaga. Choudhary won the Ramgarh by-election in March 2023, defeating Congress's Bajrang Mahto by 21,970 votes. This by-election was held after Congress legislator Mamta Devi was disqualified due to a criminal conviction.

In the 2019 elections, Mamta Devi had defeated Sunita Choudhary by a margin of 28,718 votes in Ramgarh. Meanwhile, Neru Shanti Bhagat had finished third in Lohardaga in 2019. In that election, Congress's Rameshwar Oraon defeated BJP's Sukhdeo Bhagat. Lambodar Mahto, an AJSU Party MLA who previously defeated JMM's Babita Devi by 10,093 votes, is seeking re-election from Gomia.

Additional Candidates and Election Details

Ramchandra Sahis will contest from Jugsalai on an AJSU Party ticket after securing third place there in 2019. Nirmal Mahto will run from Mandu, where he finished second last time. Harelal Mahto is set to contest from Ichagarh again after securing second place five years ago. Azhar Islam has been fielded from Pakur.

The Jharkhand Assembly elections will occur in two phases on November 13 and 20. Vote counting is scheduled for November 23. In the previous election in 2019, the JMM-led alliance won power with 47 seats, taking control from the BJP.

In that election, JMM secured 30 seats while Congress won 16 and RJD one. The BJP managed to win 25 seats, JVM-P three, AJSU Party two, with CPI-ML and NCP winning one each. Additionally, two Independent candidates were victorious in that election cycle.