Jharkhand Assembly Election: Big Jolt To NDA As BJP's Kedar Hazra, AJSU's Umakant Rajak Join JMM

In a major development ahead of the 2024 Jharkhand Assembly elections, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) Party's central vice-president Umakant Rajak and three-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from the Jamua constituency, Kedar Hazra, joined the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday.

This defection occurred shortly after the announcement of the seat-sharing agreement of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state, reported India TV.

Photo Credit: PTI

According to the pact, the BJP is set to contest 68 seats, while the Sudesh Mahto-led AJSU will field candidates in 10.

Janata Dal-United (JDU) of Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV) are expected to contest two and one seats, respectively.

As per available information, both Rajak and Hazra will contest the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections on the JMM ticket, with Kedar Hazra running from the Jamua seat.

This move follows Congress leader Manju Devi's recent departure from the 'Grand Old Party' to join the BJP. It is being speculated that the BJP might field Manju Devi as their candidate for Jamua this time, prompting Kedar Hazra to switch sides.

In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, Kedar Hazra triumphed over Congress candidate Manju Devi by a margin of 18,175 votes. Hazra had also previously won the Jamua seat in the 2005 and 2014 elections, although he lost in 2009.

Earlier this week, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced that the JMM-led alliance would contest all 81 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Speaking after a central committee meeting of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Monday, Soren expressed his confidence in the party's electoral readiness, affirming that the alliance would return to power.

Jharkhand is set to vote in two phases on 13th and 20th November, with results to be announced on 23rd November, along with those of Maharashtra. There are a total of 81 constituencies in the Jharkhand Assembly.

"I participated in the JMM central committee meeting today alongside all other workers and executive committee members. We reviewed our election preparedness, and we are confident of winning the Assembly elections. The JMM-led alliance will contest all the 81 seats," Soren said following the meeting.

He further added that, unlike the opposition BJP, the JMM-led alliance is not merely focused on making announcements, as it has implemented numerous welfare schemes.

JMM legislator and Soren's wife, Kalpana Soren, stated that the alliance was optimistic about victory, recalling how they were voted to power in 2019 despite a "double-engine" BJP government.