Jharkhand: JMM releases first list of candidates for Assembly poll

Ranchi, Nov 3: The

Mukti Morcha (

) has released its first list of 28 candidates for the five-phase Jharkhand Assembly poll which will begin on November 25.

All ministers in the Hemant Soren government find their names in the first list released by JMM General Secretary Suprio Bhattacharya last evening.

Among other prominent candidates are Assembly Speaker Shashank Sekhar Bhokta from Sarath and former minister Joba Manjhi from Manoharpur.

The party also nominated Chamra Linda, who joined the JMM from the Trinamool Congress recently, and Harinarain Rai, twice an independent MLA from Jarmundi.

Rai was a minister in the erstwhile Madhu Koda government and is currently on bail in a disproportionate assets case. Jharkhand Assembly has 81 seats.

Congress broke its alliance with the JMM last month.Congress called off its alliance with ruling JMM in poll-bound Jharkhand after sharing power for some 16 months in the tribal-dominated state.

AICC General Secretary B K Hariprasad told PTI that the Congress would contest the Assembly polls in Jharkhand along with RJD and JD-U, with which it had faced bypolls in Bihar in August.

PTI