Jharkhand Election 2024: 43 seats, 15 districts, 683 candidates – What’s at stake for whom?

A total of 43 constituencies will go to polls in the first phase of the Jharkhand Assembly elections. (File photo: PTI)

The stage is set for polling in the first of the two phases of the Jharkhand Assembly elections on Wednesday. As many as 683 candidates are in fray from 43 seats across 15 districts in the state that will go to polls on Wednesday, November 13.

Among those in fray are some influential candidates such as former Chief Minister Champai Soren who switched over to the BJP ahead of polls, Health Minister and Congress leader Banna Gupta, Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji, Geeta Koda (wife of former Chief Minister Madhu Koda), and Purnima Das, the daughter-in-law of former Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The high-stakes battle will kick off at 7 AM at 15,344 polling stations set up in the state. Among the constituencies going to polls on Wednesday, East Singhbhum district has the highest number of 6 seats, followed by 5 seats each in Palamu, West Singhbhum, and Ranchi districts while Koderma and Ramgarh districts have 1 seat each.

The stakes are high for the BJP and Congress as well as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the JSU as each party puts its best foot forward to derive maximum gains. The polls come on the back of some dramatic shifts in the political landscape over the last five years.

Here’s what is at stake for whom:

Hemant Soren, JMM: A chief minister who was forced to step down just ahead of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, the elections will be an opportunity for Soren to exact his revenge and consolidate his position as the new power centre in the footsteps of his father Shibu Soren.

Champai Soren, BJP: Having quit the JMM and ended his decades-long association with the party after being asked to step down as chief minister, Champai Soren refused to hang his boots and entered the poll fray on a BJP ticket. A candidate from the Saraikela seat, his victory could prove crucial in the BJP’s larger game plan against the JMM in the state.

Bharatiya Janata Party: Out of power for the last five years despite a change of guard within the JMM, the BJP has seen its tribal support base shifting beneath its feet. The Lok Sabha elections saw the party being limited to nine seats out of 14, down from 12 in the previous general elections. The loss of tribal votes could be one of the reasons behind this setback.

Having focussed its energies on regaining tribal support, the party has promised laws on protecting tribal rights and checking illegal immigration that it claims is causing “demographic change”. The party has also decided to test the waters for the rollout of a Uniform Civil Code which it has promised to implement in the state if it is elected to power, the first such proposal in an Opposition-ruled state.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha: With Hemant Soren firmly at the helm of affairs and the party facing serious allegations of corruption and misconduct, the JMM now stares at the prospect of losing the trust of tribals who form the crux of its support structure. Having projected the incarceration of Soren as an insult to the tribal community, a victory will strengthen its position in the state and prove to be an effective counter against the Opposition’s narrative against it. A loss, on the other hand, will make it difficult for the party given the cases of corruption against many of its top leaders.

Narendra Modi: Jharkhand has been a state that remains one of the key battlegrounds between the NDA and the INDIA bloc led by the Congress. With a reduced tally in the Lok Sabha elections strengthening the narrative of the Congress-led Opposition, Jharkhand will be key to re-establish Modi’s dominance in the Hindi heartland and his popularity among not just the tribals, but also the Dalit and OBC communities.