Workers of all political parties danced to the beat of drums and burst crackers around Pandra counting centre in the state capital where counting for seven Assembly seats in Ranchi district was underway till late on Monday evening.
Unlike the Jamshedpur strongroom, at Pandra, all major parties had reasons to celebrate. While the BJP retained Kanke, Hatia and Ranchi seats, the JMM snatched Tamar from Ajsu Party, and the Congress wrested Khijri from the BJP. The JVM snatched Mandar from the BJP. And Ajsu Party regained Silli from the JMM.
Many, eyes glued to the LED van outside the counting centre, turned impromptu poll analysts. “Hemantwa to kamaal kar diya (Hemant worked wonders),” JMM supporter Rashid Khan said after the Dumka and Barhait results.
Some BJP workers slammed Raghubar Das. “Raghubar ji ka bole sab duba diya (What to say, Raghubarji has sunk everything),” one said.
BJP’s C.P. Singh retained his Ranchi seat, defeating JMM’s Mahua Maji by around 6,000 votes, but after a suspenseful counting where Maji was in the lead. Asked why his victory margin reduced by one-tenth from 2014, Singh said: “Why are you worried about my margin? I am happy with my sixth consecutive victory.”