Jharkhand Assembly Elections: INDIA Alliance finalises seat-sharing, JMM-Congress to contest on 70 seats

As the Jharkhand assembly elections approach, political alliances are taking shape. In a press conference held at his official residence in Ranchi, Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced the seat-sharing arrangement among the India Alliance, which includes the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress. According to the agreement, the JMM and Congress will contest on 70 out of the 81 assembly seats, while the remaining 11 seats will be allocated to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other alliance partners.

In his announcement, Soren said that the Congress and JMM have agreed to a collaborative approach in the elections, emphasizing their united front. He mentioned that the candidates from other parties in the alliance would contest the remaining seats, though he did not specify how many seats would be allocated to each party within the JMM and Congress.

The seat-sharing strategy comes just as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) revealed its own arrangement. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest 68 seats, while the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) will field candidates in 10 seats. The Janata Dal (United) is set to contest two seats, and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will contest one seat. 

In an interesting development, two prominent leaders recently joined the JMM. Kedar Hazra, a three-time BJP MLA, and AJSU leader Umakant Rajak switched allegiance to the JMM during a ceremony on Friday. Hazra, who represents the Jamua constituency, previously won the 2019 assembly elections by defeating Congress candidate Manju Kumari by a significant margin of over 18,000 votes. Chief Minister Soren welcomed both leaders, expressing confidence that their inclusion would strengthen the party. 

As the elections draw near, voting for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly is scheduled to take place in two phases on November 13 and 20, with the counting of votes set for November 23. The Election Commission has reported that Jharkhand has approximately 2.60 crore eligible voters, comprising 1.31 crore men and 1.29 crore women. Notably, around 11.84 lakh voters will be participating in the assembly elections for the first time.