Tag: Jharkhand-Assembly-polls

Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019: First phase of polling today, IAF chopper drops polling personnel in Chhattisgarh.

Source – hindustantimes.com

An Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper “mistakenly” dropped a team of polling personnel from Jharkhand on duty for the first phase of assembly elections on November 30 in the neighbouring state Chhattisgarh on Thursday.

Members of eight polling parties had taken off from a helipad at the district headquarters in Latehar for Chatakapur in Mahuadand in Jharkhand’s Latehar district but they found themselves dropped at Sattipara field in Pratappur Bhainsamunda area of Surajpur district in Chhattisgarh.

The Latehar district administration had despatched 18 members of nine polling parties for Chatakpur cluster centre in Manika assembly constituency, which is among the 13 assembly constituencies in Latehar, Palamu, Garhwa, Chatra, Lohardaga and Gumla districts where voting is scheduled to take place on November 30.

The polling personnel included nine presiding officers and nine first polling officers for nine polling stations in the area. Manika constituency had a total of 321 polling stations.

Upon realising about the wrong landing, the polling personnel informed the Latehar deputy commissioner (DC) and district election officer (DEO) Zeeshan Qmar, who alerted his Chhattisgarh counterpart Dipak Soni.

Soon, a team of officials from Chhattisgarh reached the site of landing and provided security cover to the 18-member polling party. Later, another IAF helicopter was sent from Latehar in Jharkhand to lift the stranded polling personnel from Chhattisgarh and drop them at their original destination in Jharkhand.

The Latehar DC later said, “The chopper lost its way and dropped the polling personnel in adjoining Chhattisgarh. The pilot had picked the details of a wrong location. They are all safe and have been brought back to Chatakpur.”

Raees Ahmad, one of the polling personnel, said, “The pilot of the IAF chopper asked us to alight in a field saying the engine had developed some technical snag. We obeyed and got down. Before we could understand something, the chopper left us and flew back.”

“On realising where we are, we panicked at first but soon villagers reached there and assured us of safety,” said Krishna Ram, another member of polling party.

The district administration had despatched a total of 125 polling parties to cluster centres by three IAF choppers two days ahead of the election.

A total of 83 parties were air dropped in Mahuadand block, 28 in Garu and another 14 in Barwadih block of the Manika assembly constituency.

Jharkhand Assembly Election: Will BJP’s solo act bear fruit?

Source – moneycontrol.com

After the closure to a rather dramatic post-election government formation in Maharashtra, where the BJP was outwitted by an astute Sharad Pawar, eyes have now turned to Jharkhand, where the saffron party is going solo.

According to a report by The Hindu, even as parleys were going on, BJP’s central leadership insisted that the party was likely to benefit from multi-cornered contests and announced candidates for 79 of the total 81 seats.

BJP’s decision to go alone also meant parting ways with ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which has fielded 45 candidates this time.

In 2014, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had contested as an alliance, while the Congress and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) had fought independently.

This time, the Congress, RJD and the JMM have formed a pre-poll alliance and can prove to be a formidable challenge to the BJP, provided the three parties iron out their seat-sharing issues.

Besides, an analysis of the 2014 state elections shows that BJP’s reliance on a multi-cornered contest favouring them is likely to cause a dent.

In 2014, there were five seats where the victory margin was less than 1,000 votes. Of these, two went to the BJP, while the Congress, JMM and AJSU got one each. Plus, the Congress and the JMM were runners up in three seats, whereas the BJP was runner up only in one.

Again, there were 13 seats where the victory margin was between 1,000 and 5,000 votes. Of these, the BJP won five, while the JMM bagged two, and the JVM, AJSU and two others won one seat each. Here too, the BJP was runner up in four constituencies, while the JMM, Congress and RJD were runners up in six seats combined.

Seats, where the victory margin was more than 30,000 was where the BJP fared well. However, BJP leaders contend that vote transfer is not a given in Jharkhand. Incumbent Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das told the newspaper, “Just because there is an alliance among leaders does not mean that the support base will follow.”

Sharing the same sentiment, psephologist Abhay Kumar, formerly with the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), said the 2014 results “cannot be extrapolated to 2019”.

Citing that it is the saffron party that has been able to provide Jharkhand with its only full-term government over the past five years, Kumar said, “The BJP’s stability in governance will be important.”

BJP, however is playing safe vis-à-vis its relationship with the AJSU. During poll rallies, party president Amit Shah refers to AJSU as an old ally, which is still a “friend”, something which JMM chief Hemant Soren believes is proof that the BJP’s solo act will backfire.

The role played by the JVM and Independents is still imponderable, as is the efficacy of the BJP’s strategy. These factors will provide a clearer picture on December 23, when the results to the Assembly elections are scheduled to be announced.

BJP needs to introspect in Jharkhand, says party spokesman Praveen Prabhakar before resigning.

Source – indiatoday.in

In a jolt to the BJP in Jharkhand where polls are underway, its principal spokesman and a leading light of the statehood demand, Praveen Prabhakar, on Sunday resigned from the party. He will now contest the Assembly elections from Nala on a National Peoples’ Party (NPP) ticket.

Associated with the BJP for the past five years, Prabhakar had been among the founding members of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which fought the 2014 Assembly election in alliance with the BJP but is contesting separately this time. He was said to be unhappy with the ticket distribution in the state by the party.

Prabhakar told IANS that he had learnt a lot from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief and Home Minister Amit Shah but in Jharkhand, the BJP needed to do some introspection.

He joined the National Peoples’ Party (NPP), headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, at its national convention at the Constitution Club in Ranchi on Sunday, and was named its candidate from Nala, which will go to polls in the last of the five phases on December 20.

Shillong MP and former Union Minister Agatha Sangma, Meghalaya Home Minister James Sangma and NPP’s Jharkand chief Raj Kumar Poddar were also present at the programme.

The NPP was recently recognised as a national political party by the Election Commission, making it one of the eight to enjoy this status.

Speaking on the occasion, Conrad Sangma recalled his father and former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma had set up the party in 2013 and his dream was that it not remained confined to the northeast but spread to other states across India as a national party to help the deprived.

Hailing Prabhakar’s joining his party, Sangma said that he would help the NPP increase its footprint in Jharkhand and other states and thus “all would together help achieve the late Sangma’s dream”.

Prabhakar said that he does not have any personal grievance with the BJP but it needs to do some soul-searching in his state. Extolling the leadership of Modi and Amit Shah, he said that under them, “the nation was progressing on all fronts, but in Jharkhand, the aspirations of the people were being constantly snuffed. I dedicated all I had for the creation of Jharkhand (as a separate state) and will continue to fight all my life for its development. I have full faith that I will get the assistance and guidance of NPP leaders in this endeavour…”.

Despite Being Politically Powerful & Affluent, How a Backward Community in Jharkhand Figured on Poll Planks.

Source – news18.com

Patna/Ranchi: Ahead of the crucial five-phase Jharkhand assembly elections, all the major political parties and combinations made last-minute promises to garner the votes of the other backward castes (OBCs), especially the Kudmi-Mahato caste, and the Scheduled Tribes.

The Congress promised in its manifesto 27% reservation for the OBCs from the existing 14%, jobs to at least one person per household and a separate Sarna code (religious code) for the tribal population of Jharkhand if voted to power.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah at one of its election rallies also announced to form a commission for reservation to the backward caste youth and dole out jobs to them. Shah said that the BJP government would provide an opportunity to the OBCs, which have been neglected during 70 years of Congress rule in the country.

Simultaneously, the main opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led by Sibu Soren has pledged to provide 67% reservation to OBCs, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes besides government jobs to the local people if it came to power in the state. The JMM also promised an allowance of Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 per month to unemployed graduates and post-graduates besides reserving 75% jobs in the private sector for the local youth.

The Congress strategy in promising increase in reservation for the OBCs appears to be an attempt to snatch the OBC quota plank from the BJP and its disgruntled ally — the All Jharkhand Student Union (AJSU) Party, which has been championing the demand of the Kudmi-Mahato caste for its inclusion in the list of the Scheduled Tribes. The Kudmi-Mahatos constitute around 25 per cent of the total population of Jharkhand.

The higher OBC quota politics is also an attempt to blunt the demand of inclusion of the Kudmi-Mahato in the Scheduled Tribe list as it would require an amendment in Parliament. This attempt, at the same time, has the risk of alienating the substantial tribal population in Jharkhand.

But the offer will certainly have its bearing in the Chotanagpur region, which has substantial population of the Kudmi-Mahato caste. The Congress and others hope to rope in the support of the politically powerful and financially affluent Kudmi-Mahato caste.

The AJSU led by Sudesh Mahato had laboured under the BJP and been rendered redundant under the saffron shadow. But this time, it is trying to firm up its roots by deciding to field candidates against its BJP from 27 assembly seats and hopes to reap dividends from its core vote bank of the Kudmi-Mahato caste. In the 2014 polls, the BJP had won 37 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly and it crossed the majority mark only with the help of five seats won by AJSU.

The Kudmi-Mahato caste of Jharkhand is ethnically and culturally different from the Kurmi caste of Bihar. They observe totems and taboos akin to Munda, Ho, Kharia, Oraon and Santhals. A central government notification of 1913 and notification of the then Bihar-Orissa government of 1931 suggest that Kudmis were part of the Scheduled Tribes. In the 1931 census, the Kudmis of Chotanagpur were included in the list of primitive tribes and it was a part of ST till September 5, 1950. The reason behind the omission of the caste from the list is not yet known.

Scholars like Dr Ram Dayal Munda, Dr Nirmal Minz, N E Horo, Sanjay Basu Mallick and Santosh Rana have observed that Kudmis of Jharkhand should be accorded the status of STs.

At the Adivasi Kudmi Convention held at Purulia on December 27, 1988, N E Horo in a written message stated that Kudmi community should be included into the ST list since they belonged to the ethnic group and remained part of it till 1931.

JMM patriarch Sibu Soren favoured inclusion of the Kudmi-Mahato into the list of Scheduled Tribes observing that they were a sub-caste of Santhals and branched out of the same clan. The then AICC general secretary Ram Ratan Ram had opined that the Kudmi-Mahatos were the tribesmen and promised to raise the issue with the then Prime Minister.

The Totemic Kudmi tribes are highly concentrated in Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Santhal Pargana and Chotanagpur plateau of Jharkhand, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Bonai in Orrisa and Purillia, Bankura and Midnapore, Burdan, Malda, Murshidabad and West Dinajpur in West Bengal. They have been traditionally settled in a well-defined territory bounded by four rivers Damodar, Kanshabati, Subarnarekha and Baitarni, which has been a part of lower Jharkhand.

The BJP is tactically playing safe on this issue although the then BJP government led by chief minister Arjun Munda had recommended to the Centre to provide tribal status to the Kudmi-Mahatos and Ghatwars in 2004.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) too is in support of the demand and supported increase in the OBC quota and inclusion of Kudmi-Mahato in the ST list.

Jharkhand will vote in five phases, with the first one on November 30 and the last on December 20. Results will be declared on December 23.

Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019: JD(U) backs ex-minister Saryu Roy against CM Raghubar Das.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who are partners in Bihar have taken the gloves off in Jharkhand over former state minister Saryu Roy who is contesting the assembly election against chief minister Raghubar Das from Jamshedpur-East.

This became apparent with a senior JD (U) leader extending full support to Roy and also claiming that the party’s president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar could campaign in Jamshedpur for Roy.

“If Saryu Roy requests Nitish Kumar to campaign for him, we all would request the JD-U president to campaign for Roy. We will extend all possible support to Saryu Roy. Every one of us will camp in Jamshedpur if need be. He has always been raising his voice against corruption. He continued to fight corruption in high places in spite of being in the government,” Lalan Singh, senior JD (U) leader and MP from Munger in Bihar told reporters in Ranchi on Tuesday.

Singh further said they felt Roy was denied ticket because he kept raising his voice against corruption in Jharkhand.

“If you deny someone ticket for opposing corruption, what will he do? Naturally he decided to symbolically fight against the CM and filed nomination. JD (U) welcomes and fully supports his decision. We have already withdrawn our candidate there,” Singh said.

The BJP tried to play down the electoral showdown with the JD (U).

BJP spokesperson in Jharkhand, Pratul Shahdeo said, “We don’t have alliance with JD (U) in Jharkhand. Our alliance with them is restricted to Bihar. Moreover, it is not in culture our party to comment on internal decisions of other parties.”

Meanwhile, Roy said on Tuesday that he has applied for three symbols – farmer on tractor, gas cylinder and sewing machine which will be decided on November 21. Interestingly, JD (U)’s official poll symbol in Jharkhand is farmer riding tractor, which is almost similar to what Roy has suggested as his choice.

“If there is no official JD (U) candidate in a particular seat, the DC can allot farmer riding tractor symbol to independent candidate,” Salkhan Murmu, JD (U) Jharkhand president said.

Leaders close to Roy said that former BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, former union minister Yashwant Sinha have also expressed their willingness to address rallies and hold roadshows in Jamshedpur to support Roy.

“Union minister Ramvilas Paswan too is being requested to send Chirag Paswan if he is not able to come for campaigning in favour of Roy,” one of the leader quoted above said.

JMM working president Hemant Soren has extended unconditional support and appealed all opposition parties to extend support to Roy. However, the Congress, which got the Jamsedhpur East in seat sharing with JMM has fielded its national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh and is yet to take a call on his withdrawing his candidature.

On Monday, the JD (U) had announced that it would not field candidate against Roy from Jamsedhpur East. It had asked its official candidate Sanjay Thakur for Jamshedpur-East and Sanjiv Acharya for Jamshedpur-West to withdraw from fray. Neither of them filed nominations.

Samajwadi Party (SP) state general secretary Ali Raza said their candidates too did not file nomination from the seat in support of Roy.

BJP Blames Jharkhand Ally AJSU For Failing To Reach Seat Adjustments.

Source – ndtv.com

JAMSHEDPUR: The BJP on Monday held its NDA ally AJSU party responsible for not being able to reach a seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties for the Jharkhand assembly polls.

Except for two-three seats, the AJSU party cannot make any dent into the BJP’s poll prospects in the elections, BJP state unit president Laxman Gilua claimed.

“The BJP had given eight seats to the AJSU party in 2014 assembly polls. This time, the party was ready to consider 13 to 14 seats. But AJSU president Sudesh Mahto was rigid on his claim of 18 to 22 seats,” Mr Gilua told PTI.

Mr Mahto had earlier said his party had given a list of 17 candidates for consideration by the BJP.

“The BJP is a national party and should be respected as such. They should have agreed on seats proportionately,” he said referring to the regional status the AJSU party has.

So far the BJP has announced names of 73 contestants for the five-phase Jharkhand assembly elections to be held between November 30 and December 23. On the other hand, the AJSU party has released lists of 27 candidates so far for the 81-member House.

Till now, the two NDA partners will come face to face in 19 constituencies.

However, none of them has officially admitted that they have parted ways, leaving the scope open for a post-poll alliance.

The BJP and the AJSU have been allies ever since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000, with Mahto going on to become a deputy chief minister with the Home portfolio.

Mr Mahto lost the 2014 election from Silli seat and also failed to win a bypoll to the same constituency later.


Jharkhand polls 2019: Congress leaves Ranchi for JMM to fight BJP.

Source – cnbctv18.com

In the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly polls, the state capital Ranchi seat is going to witness an interesting tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition alliance.

The BJP has been winning this seat for the past 29 years and this time the JMM backed by the Congress wants to wrest the seat away.

The BJP has been winning the seat continuously for the past six elections and this time the Congress has decided not to field its candidate, but to support the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate as part of the opposition alliance.

Although the Congress workers have opposed this, the party leadership decided to support the JMM candidate Mahua Maji. The BJP will continue with its sitting MLA S.P. Singh.

In the last Assembly polls, Singh had defeated JMM candidate Mahua Maji by around 59,000 votes, while the Congress candidate lost his security deposit after getting a mere 7,935 votes.

In fact, out of a total of 17 candidates who had contested the last election, 15 lost their security deposits.

The continuous poor performance on the seat forced the Congress to rework its strategy. And, finally, it decided to support the JMM candidate.

The BJP on the other hand has been winning this seat continuously since the formation of the state in 1990.

In 1995 Yashwant Sinha won this seat, but a year later he moved to Rajya Sabha. BJP fielded S.P. Singh from this seat then, and he has been winning this seat ever since.

A senior journalist from Ranchi, Sampurnanand Bharati said: “Ranchi is one of the prominent seats in the state and so all want to win from Ranchi.

“The Congress has withdrawn here in favour of the JMM. The BJP will be aggressive to retain this seat and there is a renewed vigour in the opposition alliance after putting up their one candidate.”

The elections in Ranchi will be held during the third phase of the Jharkhand polls, for which the notification came on Saturday.

The Ranchi district has five assembly seats — Ranchi, Silli, Kanke, Khijri and Hatia. The candidates can file their nominations till November 25.The Election Commission will do the scrutiny on November 26, and the candidates have the time to withdraw till November 28. The polls to these seats will be held on December 12.

Jharkhand Assembly polls: JVM-P announces third list of candidates.

Source – indiatoday.in

A day after JMM MLA Shashi Bhushan Samad joined the JVM-P, he was given a party ticket to contest from Chakradharpur (ST) seat for Jharkhand Assembly polls.

Samad’s name featured in the third list of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) announced on Sunday.

The JVM-P also fielded social activist Dayamani Barla from Khunti (ST) seat.

The other three candidates are Lohar Main Oraon (Sisai-ST), Dipak Karketta (Kolibera-ST) and Ramchandra Paswan (Jugsalai-SC), according to the list, a copy of which was released to the press.

JVM-P president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi has already announced that his party will contest on its own, breaking away from the oppositions ‘Mahagathbandhan’ that had been announced before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Samad joined the JVM-P on Saturday after Sukhram Oraon was given JMM ticket to contest from Chakradharpur (ST) constituency.

The five-phase Assembly polls in Jharkhand are scheduled between November 30 and December 20 with counting taking place on December 23.

BJP’s ally problem in poll-bound Jharkhand.

Source – indiatoday.in

For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which lost an opportunity to form a government in Maharashtra because of the difficult attitude of ally Shiv Sena, it may not be an end of story in terms of problems from partners as it was facing a similar situation in poll-bound Jharkhand too.

In Jharkhand, where elections to its 81-member Assembly will be held in five phases from November 30, the BJP will have to fight against one of its oldest alliance partners, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), which has decided to contest separately on all the seats in the state.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had made the party’s stand clear during the national council meeting last week in New Delhi, where he was re-elected as the JD-U chief for a second consecutive time.

A senior JD-U leader said the party will contest independently in the five-phased Jharkhand Assembly polls and not in alliance with the BJP.

The JD-U has a history of snubbing the BJP.

In 2013, after the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was projected as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial face, the JD-U opposed the move and walked out of the alliance.

After the debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the JD-U stitched a Grand Alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress in the state for the 2015 Assembly polls.

The Grand Alliance comprising the three parties cornered the BJP in the Assembly polls in the state. However in June 2017, the JD-U walked out of the alliance and again joined the NDA to form a government in the state.

The BJP and the JD-U contested on equal number of seats in the state during the Lok Sabha polls. However, the Nitish Kumar-led party did not join the Cabinet over differences on the respectable representation in the government.

Following the snubbing at the Centre, Nitish Kumar also did not gave more prominence to the BJP in the state in his cabinet expansion.

The JD-U also did not back the Modi government’s ambitious Triple Talaq Bill in Parliament.

On the other hand, the BJP is also facing an uphill task of gaining the trust of other allies in the state.

The BJP had the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) as an alliance partner in the state till 2012. But the JMM also ditched the BJP and joined hands with the Congress in the state.

The Grand Alliance consisting of the JMM-Congress and the RJD have already announced their alliance in the state with Soren as its Chief Ministerial candidate.

The JMM will be contesting on 43 seats while the Congress 31, leaving the rest of the seven seats to the RJD.

The 81-member Jharkhand Assembly is set to go for a five-phased election from November 30 to December 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 23.