Ex-CM Champai Soren & son in first Jharkhand poll list as BJP gives ‘1 family, 1 ticket’ go-by
The BJP on Saturday fielded former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, his youngest son Babulal Soren and CM Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Soren in the first list of 66 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections.
State BJP president Babulal Marandi will defend Dhanwar segment, Champai will contest from Seraikella tribal seat and Sita from Jamtara.
In a departure from the general rule of fielding one person from one family, the BJP has fielded Champai’s son Babulal from Ghaatshila as it seeks to take on the incumbent JMM-led INDIA bloc in the state.
Significantly, former Union Minister Arjun Munda’s wife Meera Munda and former Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das’ daughter-in-law Purnima have been fielded from Potka and Jamshedpur East seats, respectively. Both will make their electoral debuts.
The BJP has withheld the declaration of candidate opposite CM Hemant Soren of the JMM, who will contest from Barhait. The party is looking to field a heavyweight opposite Hemant. In Gandey, a seat from where Hemant’s wife Kalpana is contesting, the BJP has fielded Muniya Devi. The list also features names of Geeta Koda, the lone former Congress MP in the state who had joined the BJP on the eve of the recent Lok Sabha elections. She, however, lost the Singhbhum segment to a JMM nominee by a margin of over 1.68 lakh votes.
There are 12 women in BJP’s first list of candidates, which is an 18.18 per cent representation. The party leaders hope to capitalise on sympathy for Champai who was appointed Jharkhand CM when Hemant was jailed in an alleged land scam case being probed by the ED.
Upon Hemant’s return on bail, Champai was removed from the position—a development he had described as “humiliating”. Champai and his son had joined the BJP on August 30. The BJP has now named candidates on 66 of the 68 seats it will contest in the state in alliance with other NDA partners—All Jharkhand Students Union (10 seats); JD-U (2) and the LJP (one).
The Jharkhand Assembly has 81 members. NDA allies had announced their seat-sharing deal on Friday even as the ruling INDIA coalition partners are still ironing out differences over seat allocation.
