BJP on Saturday released its first list of 66 candidates for the upcoming Jharkhand assembly elections. The saffron party’s state chief Babulal Marandi will be contesting from Dhanwar while former CM and JMM member Champai Soren will fight from Saraikella.
BJP also named Sita Soren, sister-in-law of JMM leader and chief minister Hemant Soren, as its nominee from Jamtara.The party has fielded Geeta Balmuchu from Chaibasa, Geeta Koda from Jaganathpur and Meera Munda from Potka.
Exuding confidence in BJP ‘s win, Champai Soren told PTI, “BJP is surely going to form government (in Jharkhand) in the future.”
The BJP on Friday had announced that it will contest 68 out of 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha elections, while leaving 13 seats for its NDA allies Ajsu Party, JD(U), and LJP (Ram Vilas). Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), which was also seeking seats under the NDA fold, was left out. The BJP also mentioned that last-minute tweaks in the seat allocation could occur, depending on the candidates fielded by JMM and Congress.
The Congress and JMM while yet to announce their candidates, revealed their seat sharing deal as per which the two parties of the INDIA bloc will fight on 70 out of 81 seats. The remaining 11 seats have been left for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Left parties to contest.
The assembly polls in Jharkhand will be conducted in two phases on November 13 and November 20 with the results to be announced on November 23, as per the announcement by the Election Commission.