Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) president Hemant Soren is all set to take the oath as the Chief Minister at 4pm on Thursday. The oath-taking ceremony will take place at Ranchi's Morabadi Ground on Thursday. With this, Soren will mark his fourth term as the Jharkhand chief minister.
Soren retained the Barhait by defeating BJP's Gamliyel Hembrom by a margin of 39,791 votes in the assembly polls. Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Congress general secretary and Jharkhand in-charge, said that Soren would take the oath of office and secrecy alone.
Ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, Soren had a message for the voters. In a post on X, the JMM chief said: "Today, when deep cracks are emerging in the social structure, we will have to reiterate the unity of our ancestors and the resolve to take along with us every Jharkhandi. Congratulations to every Jharkhandi for their Abua government. Our fight is firm and unceasing. The struggle continues and will continue till the last breath."
Jharkhand cabinet expansion would take place after a vote of confidence in the state assembly, Mir added. Soren and his wife Kalpana Soren met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and invited him to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new government.
The grand ceremony will be attended by leaders of the INDIA alliance and chief ministers of various states.
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann will attend Soren's oath-taking ceremony.
Others including Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, and Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin will also be present.
Meanwhile, security has been strengthened and traffic regulations have been put in place across the state. Schools across Ranchi city are shut on Thursday due to the swearing-in of the Hemant Soren government.
The JMM-led alliance won a landslide majority in the state, with 56 of the 81 seats in its kitty. The BJP-led NDA, on the other hand, managed to win only 24 seats.