Four Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand will go for polls in the fourth phase of general elections on May 13. These constituencies are Khunti, Lohardaga, Palamu and Singhbhum. Palamu is a Schedule Caste (SC) reserved seat, while the rest three seats are reserved for Schedule Tribe (ST) candidates.
Over 64.37 lakh electors including 32.07 lakh female are eligible to exercise their franchise in these four Lok Sabha constituencies.
Jharkhand will vote for its 14 Lok Sabha seats in four phases -- on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
In 2019, BJP bagged 11 seats in the state, while its ally AJSU Party bagged one. The Congress as well as the JMM secured one seat each.
Jharkhand Lok Sabha elections: All you need to know about the four constituencies going to polls on May 13
Khunti: Khunti is one of the key seats in Jharkhand with a total of 13.12 lakh voters. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP has nominated its sitting Member of Parliament and Union Minister Arjun Munda from the seat while Congress has fielded Kali Charan Munda. Arjun Munda won the Khunti LS seat -- facing the problems of poverty, opium cultivation, naxalism and human trafficking -- with a slender margin of 1,445 votes in the 2019 general election defeating Kali Charan Munda.
Singhbhum: Singhbhum has 14.32 lakh voters, of whom 7.27 lakh are women. BJP has fielded sitting MP Geeta Kora, the wife of former chief minister Madhu Kora, while JMM has fielded Joba Manjhi as the INDIA bloc candidate. Kora recently made a switch to the saffron party from Congress.
Lohardaga: In Lohardaga, Congress' Sukdheo Bhagat will contest against BJP's Samir Oraon. The saffron party has put faith in Oraon for Lohardaga Lok Sabha seat, replacing sitting MP Sudarshan Bhagat, whose victory margin in 2019 was a mere 10,363 votes. In 2018, Oraon was elected to the Rajya Sabha and his term ended on May 3.
Palamu: Sitting MP Vishnu Dayal Ram is BJP's candidate for the Palamu Lok Sabha constituency while Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has fielded Mamta Buiyan as the INDIA bloc candidate. Ram, a former Director General of Police, had won the Palamu seat -- the only scheduled caste reserved constituency in the state. He won the seat by a margin of 4,77,606 votes against RJD’s Ghuran Ram in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
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