Congress to Finalise Seat Sharing Deal with Allies for Jharkhand Assembly Polls by Tuesday

The Congress Central Election Committee recently convened to finalise candidates for the Jharkhand Assembly elections. Ghulam Ahmad Mir, AICC in-charge for Jharkhand, stated that nominees for about 70% of the seats were approved. He expressed optimism about reaching a seat-sharing agreement with INDIA bloc allies soon.

Two days prior, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced that the INDIA bloc partners would contest the Assembly polls together. The Congress and JMM plan to field candidates in 70 of the 81 seats. Discussions are ongoing with alliance partners like the RJD and Left parties for the remaining 11 seats.

Seat-Sharing Discussions

Mir mentioned that discussions covered the political landscape of Jharkhand and individual seats. "We discussed about 70 per cent of the total seats we would be fighting," he said. Some seats need revisiting, but a list will be ready by late night or tomorrow morning.

In the previous election, Congress, JMM, and RJD were partners. Now, CPIML is also part of the alliance. Out of 11 remaining seats, seven to eight have been allocated based on merit. Two to three seats still have multiple claims, which should be resolved by tonight.

RJD's Position

The RJD expressed dissatisfaction with seat-sharing arrangements, demanding no less than 12 seats due to their influence on 18-20 seats. "Less than 12-13 seats are not acceptable to us," said RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha. Despite this, they won't undermine the INDIA bloc's prospects even if they contest independently.

The NDA has also announced its seat-sharing formula: BJP will contest 68 seats, AJSU Party 10, JDU two, and LJP Ram Vilas one. Filing nominations for the first phase of elections began on Friday and will continue until October 25.

Previous Election Results

In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, the JMM-led alliance secured 47 seats—30 by JMM and 16 by Congress. The BJP won 25 seats, JVM-P three, AJSU Party two, CPI-ML and NCP one each, with independents winning two.

The upcoming Assembly polls are scheduled in two phases on November 13 and 20, with vote counting on November 23. The JMM-led alliance is confident of retaining power due to its development initiatives.