Jharkhand-Assembly Archives

Congress MLA remark on Tabrez lynching stirs row in Jharkhand.

Source – indianexpress.com

Jharkhand Assembly’s maiden session Wednesday was rocked by Congress MLA Irfan Ansari’s allegation that the accused in the murder of Tabrez Ansari, the 24-year-old attacked by a lynch mob in June last year, were BJP workers.

Although Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato said the lines would be expunged and demanded an apology, Ansari refused to apologise.

Ansari later said he wasn’t naming the entire saffron party for the murder, but a few persons affiliated to it.

Tabrez Ansari was tied to a pole and beaten with rods in Saraikela-Kharsawan area for alleged theft. He was also forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”. He died in jail four days later. Police had earlier dropped the murder charge in the case, but later added it while filing a supplementary chargesheet.

On Wednesday, trouble began when a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha legislator was addressing the session looking at the BJP MLAs, which the saffron party objected to. BJP Ranchi MLA C P Singh interrupted him. On Irfan Ansari’s turn to address the assembly, he said the present government will investigate the previous government’s work. This was again interrupted by C P Singh. In response, Irfan Ansari made the allegation.

Despite Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato expunging the “objectionable part” from the proceedings and adjourning the assembly for 15 minutes, all the BJP MLAs trooped into the well of the House, raised slogans and demanded an apology from Congress members.

A few months ago, C P Singh had compelled Irfan Ansari to say Jai Shri Ram outside the assembly building.

Later, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, while replying to the motion of thanks, said his government will pursue development that people will feel. He further said his government would end the model of “filling up coffers of politicians and officers”, taking a veiled dig at the previous government.

Uproar in Jharkhand House as MLA drags RSS into lynching case.

Source – outlookindia.com

Ranchi: The Jharkhand Assembly on Wednesday witnessed uproarious scenes when a Congress legislator Irfan Ansari dragged the RSS into the lynching of Tabrez Ansari last year.

Irfan Ansari, speaking on the motion of thanks to the Governor”s address, said “BJP and RSS are responsible for the killing of Tabrez Ansari”. The Congress legislator”s remark invited a sharp reaction from the BJP MLAs.

Tabrez Ansari was thrashed by a mob in the Seraikela-Kharsawa district of Jharkhand on June 17, 2019 resulting in his death a few days later.

The BJP legislators started demanding that the ”unsavoury” remark made about the BJP and the RSS should be expunged and said that the Congress legislator should express regrets about making such a comment. The legislators came to the well of the House demanding an apology and expunging of the remark.

“What is the proof of the Irfan Ansari allegation,” said BJP legislator C.P. Singh.

Assembly speaker Rabindranath Mahto pacified the BJP legislators and asked them to return to their seats. The Speaker later expunged the Congress legislator”s remark.

The BJP legislators however stuck to the demand for an apology by Irfan Ansari and again came to the well of the House. ”Dismiss Irfan Ansari from House” and ”Irfan Ansari must tender apology” were some of the slogans raised by the BJP legislators.

The Assembly Speaker”s move to pacify the BJP legislators however failed. He left the apology issue to the conscience of the Congress legislator, who categorically said that he would not apologise.

The BJP legislators then raised more slogans forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House.

When the House reassembled, the BJP legislators again demanded an apology from the Congress and came to the well of the House. The issue got further aggravated when CP Singh said, “What if I say Irfan Ansari was a terrorist who attacked Mumbai, he was a sleeper cell of the ISI and agent of Pakistan, then what”?

Singh”s remark triggered heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches as MLAs stood on their seats and yelled at each other.

The Speaker tried to pacify those BJP legislators who were in the well of the House.

Amid the BJP legislators” protest in the well, the Speaker allowed Chief Minister Hemant Soren to speak on the motion of thanks.

AJSU president Sudesh Mahto objected to this and said his party should be allowed to speak on the motion of thanks. The Speaker ignored his plea.

The Chief Minister gave his speech and the motion of thanks was passed by a voice vote amid protests by the BJP legislators in the well.

Rabindra Nath Mahato elected as Jharkhand Assembly Speaker.

Source –

RANCHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Rabindra Nath Mahato was on Tuesday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren proposed Mahato’s name for the post which was seconded by JMM MLA Champai Soren during the second of the three-day session of the Assembly.

Born on January 12, 1960, Mahato was first elected in 2005 from Nala seat but lost the subsequent elections before winning it again in the 2014 and 2019 polls.

All the newly-elected MLAs in the 81-member House were administered oath by pro-term Speaker Stephen Marandi on Monday.

The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won 47 seats while the BJP could bag only 25 seats in the Assembly elections which were held in five phases from November 30 to December 20 last year.

The results were declared on December 23 last year.

Fifteen dynasts to sit in Jharkhand Assembly.

Source – newindianexpress.com

RANCHI: The three-day Jharkhand Assembly session, starting on Monday, will have 15 dynasts and at least three pairs of in-laws elected from different constituencies. It will be the first Assembly session after the ruling BJP was trounced by the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance in the state polls whose results were declared on December 23.

Senior JMM MLA Stephen Marandi, who was named as pro-tem Speaker, will oversee the House proceedings till a regular Speaker is elected. Governor Droupadi Murmu will deliver the inaugural address.
Of the 15 newly elected legislators in the 81-member House who replaced their parents or spouses, the maximum of seven are from BJP, six from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and two from the Congress.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren will have brother-in-law and Jama MLA Sita Soren in the Assembly. Sitting on opposite benches will be JMM’s Tundi MLA Mathura Mahto, who is father-in-law of BJP MLA Jai Prakash Bhai Patel. Likewise, Hussainabad MLA Kamlesh Kumar Singh of NCP is related to Congress’ Bermo MLA Rajendra Singh as his daughter is married to
Singh’s son.

The AJSU party, which snapped ties with the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections, will sit in the Opposition. It will be a role reversal for the JVM, which has been in the Opposition since 2006, as its MLAs will sit on treasury benches. With 10 women MLAs, the Jharkhand Assembly is seeing the maximum of women legislators in the last 19 years.

Incidentally, former chief minister Raghubar Das, who was defeated by his former Cabinet colleague Saryu Roy on his home turf Jamshedpur East, will be not in the House. Shocked with its debacle, the BJP is yet to decide its Leader in the House.

Another interesting fact about this Assembly is that more than half (54 per cent) of the newly elected MLAs have one or more than one criminal cases against them.

JVM(P) authorises Marandi to re-constitute panels

The JVM (Prajatantrik) authorised its president Babulal Marandi to re-constitute all the committees from panchayat to central level, a fortnight after it won only three seats in the state assembly polls. The decision was taken at the partys ‘Kendriya Karya Samiti’ (executive committee) meeting in Ranchi.

Jharkhand is a mandate of the poor, for their rights.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The verdict for the Jharkhand assembly is, first and foremost, a verdict in favour of a new localism, and is a reflection of people’s voice overwhelming the arena of state elections in India.

One key issue, which helps frame the meaning of the verdict, is the struggle of adivasis against purported amendments to their land rights by the Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, with its acquisition deemed unjust in the name of intended development. At an even deeper level, the protest of poor people on this and other related issues of their rights as tribal citizens — specially through the pathalgadi movement— brings to fore their belief in the salience of the Constitution and voting or matdan as a preferred form of political change. At the very least, it is the “demand side” of politics, especially from the asymmetrically placed poor voter, powerless and vulnerable, that has overwhelmed and realigned the “supply side” on offer from political parties.

Conventional vectors used to understand Jharkhand fail to explain this new turn. For one, the verdict is not just about identities of the tribal, nor is it about the manipulation of patronage and money — for long considered the bane of Jharkhand politics. Nor are the outcomes simply a reflection of the overwhelming “arithmetic” of the coalition.

First the outcome itself: The formidable majority obtained by the pre-poll alliance of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), is a historic first for this alliance in general, and the JMM in particular. Since Jharkhand was formed in November 2000, following its bifurcation from the erstwhile larger state of Bihar, and since its first state election 2005, the 81-member assembly has always seen fragmented verdicts, with post-poll coalitions being stitched to form governments.

The BJP championed the struggle for the new state. But it has only ruled with the support of the JMM, and, subsequently, with the support of the All Jharkhand Students Union led by Sudesh Mahto, and by engineering defections from Jharkhand Vikas Morcha led by Babulal Marandi — an erstwhile BJP chief minister (CM).

In 2014, the BJP central leadership decided to appoint a non-tribal leader as CM in Raghubar Das. The understanding was that at just about 27% of the population, and with sub-tribal internal differences such as those between the Santhals, Mundas, and Oraons, the BJP could play a “caste plus tribe politics” of vote banks. This would include the Mahtos (17%) under the leadership of ally Sudesh Mahto, and forward castes and urban voters. It is noteworthy that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as the Hindustan Times reported on November 2, the Narendra Modi-led BJP polled 70% of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) vote, 60% of the upper-caste vote, and 65% of the Hindu Scheduled Tribe votes.

In the state elections, however, this assumption of a fused tribe-caste vote bank in favour of the BJP proved erroneous. Tribal fears about dilution of the Chotanagpur Tenenacy Act (1908), and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (1949) were rampant. The CM had, in the assembly, moved an amendment to the central land acquisition Act, such that the state government was no longer required to conduct social impact assessments, provide for schools, colleges; nor social security for the displaced.

On many occasions, paltry sums were given to the tribals in exchange for land. This stoked fears among the tribals. After all, Shibu Soren earned the name of being the “Dishom Guruji” for having struggled to free the tribal poor from the clutches of the money lender, and to get their land back. The pathalgadi movement, centred in Khoonti, was a movement in revolt. A constitutional protest, it sought to uphold the rights of tribals under Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, and the role of gram sabha in prior consent to developmental schemes, and was an assertion of their human rights. Citizens cast these constitutional rights in stones, pathal, and erected these outside their village boundaries. The state government responded with force, and more than 10,000 FIRs were registered on protesting tribals. The JMM campaign was pitched primarily on the issue of land-rights of tribals. It also promised implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee report, and reservations in jobs for locals in the private sector. An alliance of tribals, minorities, and the poor among caste Hindus coalesced on the ground to support the coalition that Hemant Soren will lead, reaping the legacy of his father.

For the BJP, the lessons are simple. For a party that had strong foundations in the Jharkhand area, and among the tribals, the unabashed adoption of developmentalism alienating tribal rights cannot be premised in majoritarianism or strong political backing of the Centre. The party needs to go back to the grassroots, where it has a base of work with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams and other educational activities.

Many would like to see this as a return of the regional party politics, a victory of loose coalitions against a strong centre, a format prevalent since the 1990s. However, when one aligns oneself to the ground, listening to the voices of the poor, and adopts a lens of political geography that foregrounds the meaning of Jharkhand, it is clear that this is a massive mandate of the poor.

In Jharkhand, Congress borrows a strategy from Maharashtra’s Sharad Pawar.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s campaign strategy in Maharashtra shaped the Congress’s line of campaigning in Jharkhand as it kept the focus on local issues, economy and jobs, and avoided getting into a debate on nationalism, as pushed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The state, where tribals play a key role in politics, witnessed a bitter battle of narratives. While the BJP made Article 370, Ayodhya and Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), now an Act (CAA), its poll plank, the Congress and its alliance partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) stuck to their tactic of keeping the rivals engaged on local matters, and limited their discourse on national issues to economic slowdown, price rise and unemployment.

The Congress had undoubtedly taken a leaf out of Pawar’s book as the Maratha leader during the Maharashtra elections successfully dodged the BJP’s nationalism narrative and extensively campaigned on local issues.

“It was deliberate on our part to keep the elections focussed on local issues and not fall into the BJP’s trap of making it nationalism-centered. We had also received feedback that there is strong anti-incumbency against BJP chief minister Raghubar Das and as such they will raise the pitch on Article 370, Ayodhya and the CAB,” said senior Congress leader Ajay Sharma. “We didn’t let that happen and kept the campaign entirely Jharkhand-centric.”

Sharma handled the Congress’s campaign in Ranchi and assisted the party’s Jharkhand in-charge, RPN Singh, in campaign strategy and planning.

He said the Congress also thwarted all attempts by the BJP to make it Prime Minister Narendra Modi-centric elections, as the ruling party decided to increase his number of rallies after assessing that the local leaders are not getting the required traction on the ground.

The Congress had crafted different campaign plan for each of the five phases of elections. The party had also planned to end the campaigning on December 18 with a rally by either Congress president Sonia Gandhi or party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The latter, eventually, addressed a public meeting along with JMM chief Hemant Soren at Pakur in the Santhal-Pargana region.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi addressed four rallies across the state.

“For the first time in 18 years, the Congress was in a fighting-fit form and we gave our best. Besides, the in-charge [RPN Singh] camped in the state for 40 consecutive days which never happened in the past,” said the party’s state working president, Rajesh Thakur.

But Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo dismissed the contention that the ruling party was on the back-foot on local issues and instead blamed the opposition alliance for polarising the elections.

“We started with ‘Ghar Ghar Raghubar’ campaign and talked about stability and development in the last five years of the BJP government. But the Congress and JMM leaders started polarising the elections by talking negatively about Article 370 and we responded by exposing their double standards,” Shahdeo said.

He claimed that the alliance also hit the panic button after getting the feedback that the minority voters were supporting the BJP in large numbers. “At the same time, national issues are always paramount for us. As far as increasing the Prime Minister’s number of rallies, the figures available suggest a clear 80.9% strike rate for him as compared to 18.1% that of Rahul Gandhi,” added Shahdeo.

But political analysts said the local issues dominated the poll discourse among a large section of voters during the elections. “Roti [bread], kapda [cloth] aur makaan [house] are important for all and they take precedence over national issues. Voters across the country have shown that they vote differently for national and state elections,” said LK Kundan, associate professor of the political science department at the Ranchi University.

The elections for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly were held in five phases between November 30 and December 20. The results will be declared on December 23.

As per their pre-poll agreement, the Congress is contesting 31 seats while the JMM 43 seats and the RJD seven.

On the other hand, the BJP and the All Jharkhand Students Union or AJSU Party could not come to an understanding and are fighting the elections separately.

“It is a ploy. They [BJP and AJSU] have been together for five years and will join hands after the elections. The people are seeing through their drama and will hand over a crushing defeat to them,” Sharma said.

Jharkhand Assembly polls: Campaigning for final phase ends.

Source – newsonair.com

Campaigning for the fifth and final phase of Assembly elections in Jharkhand ended today.

Sixteen constituencies spread over Sahebganj, Pakur, Dumka, Jamtara, Deoghar and Godda districts of Santhal Pargana region will go to polls in this phase on Friday.

In five assembly segments of Borio, Barhait, Litipara, Maheshpur and Sikaripara campaigning ended at 3 PM due to security reasons. In the remaining 11 seats, campaigning concluded at 5 PM.

AIR Correspondent reports that star campaigners of political parties, including BJP, Congress, JMM, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and AJSU, made the last-ditch efforts to woo voters.

Addressing an election meeting at Sarath in Deoghar, Executive President of BJP JP Nadda said if the party is voted to power a committee would be constituted to give additional reservation quota to OBCs, without affecting the existing reservation given to SC/STs.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Arjun Munda said the speed of development will be further stepped up if the BJP is voted to power again in Jharkhand.

Sharing dias with JMM and RJD leader in Pakur, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadera alleged that BJP leaders are making false promises before people of Jharkhand. Accusing Raghubar Das government, she said, tribals were deprived from their land right.

BJP leaders Babul Supriyo in Jamtara and Ravi Kishan in Godda held roadshows. JMM President Shibu Soren said, interests of tribal communities were ignored during the BJP rule. Jharkhand Vikas Morcha President Babulal Marandi assured people that his government will establish industries in Jharkhand.

AJSU President Sudesh Kumar Mahto said, his government will fill up vacant government posts immediately and allowance will be given to unemployed youth.

Leaders of RJD and the Left parties also addressed election rallies in support of their party candidates.

Jharkhand Assembly polls: Campaigning for Phase-III ends, voting on Dec 12.

Source – business-standard.com

Campaigning in 17 Jharkhand assembly constituencies ended on Tuesday as the third of the five-phase polling in the seats will be held on December 12.

According to the Election Commissions latest updated list of voters about 56.18 lakh electorate, including female and third gender voters, are eligible to decide the fate of 309 candidates, including 32 women nominees in the 17 constituencies.

In all, 7016 polling stations have been set up to conduct smooth polling, an EC release said.

The voting will commence at 7 am and end at 5 pm on Thursday at Ranchi, Hatia, Kanke, Barkatha and Ramgarh seats while voters in the rest of the constituencies can exercise their franchise between 7 am and 3 pm, Election Commission officials said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned in favour of BJP. Besides him, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP Working President J P Nadda and Union minister Smriti Irani sought vote for nominees of the saffron party at different places.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha addressed election meetings in support of party candidates in separate areas.

According to police sources, adequate security personnel, including central para-military and the state police forces have been deployed for a smooth and peaceful conduct of the voting.

Notable candidates in the electoral arena are Jharkhand Education Minister and BJP candidate Neera Yadav (Koderma), Urban Development Minister and BJP nominee C P Singh (Ranchi) and sitting MLAs of different parties.

Former chief minister and president of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) Babulal Marandi is contesting Dhanwar seat.

Former deputy chief minister and AJSU party president Sudesh Mahto is crossing swords with sitting JMM MLA Seema Mahato from Silli assembly seat.

Former minister and Congress candidate Rajendra Prasad Singh is taking on sitting BJP MLA Yogeshwar Mahato from Bermo.

“Booth app” has been launched in 10 of the 81 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand as a pilot project and in the third-phase Hazaribag, Ranchi and Ramgarh constituencies will have the booth-app facility to give real-time voting percentage and other information, the release said.

The 17 constituencies, including two reserved for SC candidates and one ST nominees, are spread over eight districts.

The seats where polling will be held are Kodarma, Barkatha, Barhi, Barkagaon, Ramgarh, Mandu, Hazaribag, Simaria (SC), Dhanwar, Gomia, Bermo, Ichagarh, Silli, Khijri (ST), Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke (SC), an EC release said.

The BJP has nominated candidates in 16 of the 17 seats in this phase, a party leader said.

The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) has fielded candidates in all the seats in the third-phase, JVM (P) spokesman Saroj Singh said.

The opposition alliance comprising the JMM, Congress and the RJD have fielded candidates in the constituencies as per their pre-poll seat adjustments.

The AJSU party, Lok Jan Shakti Party, Aam Admi Party, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI (ML-Liberation), All India Trinamool Congress, Hindustani Awami Morcha (Secular), Shiv Sena, Janata Dal (United), All India Forward Bloc and some other parties have put up candidates in selective constituencies.

The first-phase polling for 13 seats and the second-phase for 20 assembly segments had concluded on November 30 and December 7 respectively.

The fourth and the fifth phases polling for 15 and 16 seats will be held on December 16 and 20 respectively.

Counting to the 81-member House is slated on December 23.

Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019: CM Raghubar Das, Speaker Dinesh Oraon among big names in second phase.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Chief minister Raghubar Das, state assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon, former state food supply minister Saryu Roy and the BJP’s state unit president Laxman Gilua are among the key contestants in the second phase of assembly election in Jharkhand on Saturday.

Raghubar Das is locked in a bitter battle with his former cabinet colleague and now Independent candidate Saryu Roy in his home constituency of Jamshedpur-East.

The BJP’s state unit president Laxman Gilua is fighting it out against the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM’s) Sukhram Oraon in Chakradharpur seat. Sukhram Oraon is the former member of legislative assembly (MLA) from the seat.

Everyone’s eyes are also on Chakradharpur because of the contest between sitting MLA Shashi Bhusan Samad as the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) Party nominee Ram Lal Munda.

The chief minister has promised to make it a district if voted to power.

In Sisai seat, state assembly speaker and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate Dinesh Oraon is caught in a direct fight with JMM candidate Jigga Susaran Horo. Dinesh Oraon had won the seat in 2014.

The state’s rural development and parliamentary Neelkanth Singh Munda is facing an uphill task in his home constituency Khunti with JMM’s Sushil Pahan as his rival in the Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019.

JVM-P candidate and social activist Dayamani Barla has made it a triangular fight in Khunti, where controversial Patthalgadi movement ruled the roost for over a year and is plagued by tribal anger and unrest for long.

Tamar is another seat of interest in the Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019 where the JMM’s Vikas Munda, son of former minister Ramesh Singh Munda, is taking on the BJP’s Rita Devi.

Surrendered Maoist commander Kundan Pahan and former minister Raja Peter, both in jail for Ramesh Singh Munda’s murder, are also contesting from the seat. Peter had earlier defeated former chief minister Sibu Soren.

The BJP and JMM are in a direct fight in the three districts of Kolhan where 13 assembly seats are polling.

The BJP had five seats in East Singhbhum and erstwhile ally AJSU Party had one seat in East Singhbhum. The JMM, on the other hand, had all the five seats in West Singhbhum and both the seats in Seraikela-Kharsawan district in 2014.

More than 48,25,000 voters will choose their representatives among the 260 candidates in the second phase of the Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2019.

The first phase was held on November 30. The fifth and final phase of polling will take place on December 20 and votes will be counted on December 23.

Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019: 1 dead, 2 injured in police firing at polling booth.

Source – hindustantimes.com

A villager was killed and two others were injured after police opened fire to control a mob pelting stones on security forces at a polling booth in Jharkhand’s Sisai assembly segment on Saturday.

Eight others, including the officer-in-charge of Sisai police station, two constables and a journalist, were also injured in the stone-pelting incident.

The incident took place at booth number 36 in Badhni village under Gumla district.

“Villagers tried to snatch arms from Rapid Protection Force (RPF) deployed at the polling booth. In order to control the mob, police had to open fire in which one person died and two others received bullet injuries on thigh and shoulder. They are reportedly out of danger and have been shifted to Ranchi hospital,” Jharkhand’s chief electoral officer Vinay Choubey said.

“Voting has been stopped at the said booth. There is all probability that a re-polling on this booth will be announced,” Choubey added.

According to police, supporters of two different political parties entered into a brawl at the booth. Police personnel deployed there interfered but they picked up a fight with the forces as well.

Villagers started snatching arms from police and pelted stones on them compelling the forces to launch a crackdown in self-defence, officials said.

The villager who died was identified as Gilani Ansari and those who received bullet injuries in the police firing as Asfaq Ansari and Khoofa Ansari.

Officer-in-charge of Sisai police station Vishnu Dev Choudhary, police constables Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul, police driver Sitaram Singh, journalist Sitaram Singh and three villagers were injured in the stone-pelting.

All the injured were rushed to Gumla Sadar Hospital for treatment.

Additional forces have been rushed to the spot. Gumla’s superintendent of police AK Jha and other senior officials of district administration were camping in the village.

Voting for the second phase of Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019 in 20 assembly constituencies began at 7am on Saturday.

In Sisai, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) candidate and assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon is in a direct fight with JMM’s nominee Jigga Susaran Horo.