Will Saryu Roy defeat former colleague Raghubar Das in Jameshdpur East?

Ranchi, Dec 23: Counting of votes for 81 Assembly constituencies in Jharkhand began at 8 am on Monday, Election Commission officials said. The election was held in five phases between November 30 and December 20.

Jamshedpur East assembly seat is one of the most-watched seats over the triangular contest between the outgoing chief minister and BJP candidate Raghubar Das, expelled BJP leader Saryu Roy who is contesting as an Independent, and Congress' Gourav Vallabh who is contesting polls for the first time.

Former minister Saryu Roy contested as an Independent against Das after the saffron party did not give him a ticket allegedly on Das' behest. Roy is believed to be the man whose efforts put two former chief ministers (Lalu Prasad and Madhu Koda) in jail for corruption.

Meanwhile, Das for the first time won Jamsedhur East assembly in 1995 and became a member of the assembly in united Bihar. He has won the seat four consecutive terms ever since and is in the running from the prestigious seat again.

In the 2014 Jharkhand elections, Das had won the Jamshedpur East seat by nearly 70,000 votes.

Before becoming the chief minister of the state in 2014, Das served as minister in Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda cabinets. In 2009, when JMM chief Shibu Soren became chief minister with BJP's support, Das was appointed deputy chief minister. However, the tenure lasted just over five months.

It has been 19 years since the state of Jharkhand was formed in 2000 and during this period the state has seen three assembly elections and six CMs. It now remains to be seen if Das would break the curse by becoming CM for the second time?