The second phase of the Assembly polls is crucial for the BJP as well as the main Opposition party, the JMM, because most of the 20 seats that will vote on Saturday are tribal dominated.
The 20 seats are spread across seven districts: East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Khunti, Ranchi, Simdega and Gumla. In the 2014 Assembly polls, the BJP nd the JMM had won eight each, then BJP ally Ajsu Party had won two, Jai Bharat Seemanta Party (JBSP, which has now merged with the Congress) one, and Anosh Ekka-led Jharkhand Party had won one.
The BJP had won Ghatshila, Potka, Jamshedpur East, Jamshedpur West, Mandar, Khunti, Sisai and Simdega. The JMM had bagged Baharagora, Seraikela, Kharsawan, Chaibasa, Majhgaon, Manoharpur, Chakradharpur and Torpa. The Ajsu Party had won Jugsalai and Tamar, while Ekka had won from Kolebira and former chief minister Madhu Koda’s wife Geeta Koda had won Jagannathpur for the JBSP.
“We are eyeing on winning maximum number of seats in the second phase as most of them are tribal dominated which would be crucial for the formation of our government in alliance with the Congress and the RJD,” JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said on Friday.
The JMM has fielded candidates in 14 seats and the Congress is fighting from six.
“We are confident that those tribals who have availed of the benefits of the welfare of schemes will vote for our party and our seat tally would be far better in the Kolhan region this time,” said state BJP spokesperson Pratul Nath Shahdeo.
However, BJP insiders agreed that Ajsu, which is fighting alone this time, will create obstacles. “In Jugsalai, Chakradharpur and Ghatshila, Ajsu candidates have considerable clout,” confided a senior BJP leader considered close to CM Das.
Apart from cabinet minister Ram Chandra Sahis (Jugsalai), three times Ghatshila MLA Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu and Ramlal Munda (Chakradharpur) are fighting on Ajsu tickets and can mar the prospect of BJP candidates Muchiram Bauri, Lakhan Mardi, and state BJP president Laxman Giluwa respectively.
The BJP has dropped four sitting MLAs: Lakshman Tuddu (Ghatshila), Saryu Roy (Jamshedpur West), Gangotri Kujur (Mandar) and Vimla Pradhan (Simdega) and replaced them with Lakhan Mardi, Devendra Singh, Deo Kumar Dhan and Shradhanand Besra respectively.
“Barring Saryu Roy, all the three sitting MLAs had to be dropped as there was strong resentment amongst the voters,” said the BJP insider.
The JMM has replaced two sitting MLAs, Shashi Bhusan Samad (Chakradharpur) and Paulus Surin (Torpa),with Sukhram Oraon and Sudeep Guria respectively.
JMM sitting MLA Kunal Sarangi (Baharagora) joined the BJP in October this year, and the JMM poached Baharagora BJP leader Sameer Mohanty.
Jharkhand chief electoral officer Vinay Chaubey said the Election Commission will arrange for free transportation for voters of 101 polling booths that have been relocated after taking into consideration security assessments and remoteness of the booths.
Web-casting facility will be available in 1,662 booths, and 337 model booths have set up. Sisai has the largest number of model booths (39). Based on intelligence inputs on Maoist threat, 994 polling booths have been identified as extremely sensitive, and 762 have been marked as sensitive. A total of 2,005 polling booths have been identified as sensitive in non-Maoist areas, based on communal and other factors.
