Ranchi: The INDIA bloc in Jharkhand has announced its initial candidate roster for the forthcoming Assembly elections on Monday, with Congress naming 21 candidates. The party has reappointed its MLAs for 18 constituencies, except Mandu, Hazaribagh, and Jamshedpur East.
Ajoy Kumar, the former president of Jharkhand Congress, is contesting from Jamshedpur East against Purnima Das Sahu, the daughter-in-law of Odisha Governor and ex-chief minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das. Kumar resigned from Congress after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections due to significant disagreements with the state’s senior party leadership. He previously secured a victory in the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha by-election in 2011, succeeding Arjun Munda.
Another newcomer on the list is Munna Singh of Hazaribagh, who had earlier vied for a seat under the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) banner. Singh is set to challenge BJP’s Pradeep Prasad, another fresh face in Hazaribagh, a seat formerly held by BJP’s Manish Jaiswal.
Jaiprakash Bhai Patel, having resigned from the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat with Congress, will now vie for the Mandu Assembly seat.
Health Minister Banna Gupta is set to contest from Jamshedpur West, which is anticipated to be a close race with JD(U)’s Saryu Roy. Previously, Roy had defeated the then BJP chief minister Raghubar Das as an Independent candidate from Jamshedpur East. This time, Roy’s shift to Jamshedpur West poses a significant challenge for the sitting minister Gupta, according to party sources.
Minister Irfan Ansari will compete for the Jamtara seat, facing off against Sita Soren of the BJP, who is the daughter-in-law of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) co-founder Shibu Soren.
The Jharkhand Assembly elections are scheduled in two phases on November 13 and November 20, with the results to be announced on November 23. The JMM-Congress alliance plans to contest 70 out of the 81 total seats in the state, allocating 11 seats to allies of the INDIA bloc, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left.
