BJP Releases 1st List For Jharkhand Assembly Polls: Champai Soren, Babulal Marandi Among 66 Candidates

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its first list of candidates for the upcoming high-stakes Jharkhand Assembly elections, set to take place in November.

State party president Babulal Marandi will be fighting from Dhanwar. Former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) members, Sita Soren from Jamtara and ex-CM Champai Soren from Saraikella, have also been fielded by BJP.

Photo Credit: PTI

Among the nominees, Geeta Balmuchu will contest from Chaibasa, Geeta Koda, the wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, will stand from Jagannathpur, and Meera Munda has been selected for Potka.

The Election Commission has announced that the polls for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly will be conducted in two phases, on 13 and 20 November, with vote counting scheduled for 23 November.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) revealed its seat-sharing arrangement on Friday. BJP will contest 68 seats, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) will contest 10, the Janata Dal (United) will stand in two, and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will compete in one seat.

Conversely, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced that the INDIA bloc, which includes Congress and JMM, will contest the upcoming polls together, fielding candidates for 70 out of the 81 seats.

Seat-sharing negotiations are still ongoing with other alliance partners, including RJD and Left parties, for the remaining 11 seats.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the JMM, as part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), contested 43 seats, Congress fielded candidates in 31, and RJD contested 7 seats. The UPA emerged victorious with 47 seats, while the BJP secured 25.