Ichagarh, Dec. 7: Dada go didi ra ebar Sabita Mahto ko tir dhanush re vote de jitaye (Brothers and sisters vote for bow and arrow this time to help Sabita Mahto win), plays a Jhumar song near Ichagarh block of Seraikela-Kharsawan district, 90km from Jamshedpur.

Apart from Ichagarh, three other blocks - Chandil, Nimdih and Khukhru - fall in Ichagarh Assembly seat, where the JMM has shifted from its main poll plank and is largely banking on faces that appeal more to the local people.

Cut-outs of deceased JMM senior leader and former Ichagarh MLA Sudhir Mahto, who died in January this year, and his slain elder brother Nirmal Mahto are more prominent in the party's campaign posters than those of JMM chief Shibu Soren and his chief minister son Hemant Soren.

Former JMM leader Nirmal was gunned down in 1987.

It's quite apparent that JMM's Ichagarh candidate Sabita, the 40-year-old widow of former deputy chief minister Sudhir, is banking heavily on the legacy of her husband and her slain brother-in-law to wrest the party's old turf from sitting MLA Arvind Kumar Singh, alias Malkhan Singh, of the JVM.

The fight is largely limited between Sabita and three-time MLA Arvind. BJP's Sadhu Charan Mahto and Congress's Hikim Chandra Mahto's presence is minimal even in campaigning. Sudhir had won the seat in 2000 and retained it in 2005 but finished third in the 2009 elections, when Arvind bagged 45,465 votes to emerge winner.

'Apparently, JMM leaders are trying to play a sympathy card, which is reflected in their campaign songscalling her a widow from a family of martyrs who fought for the statehood cause. Besides, an anti-incumbency factor is playing against the sitting MLA,' said Biswanath Sarkar, a grocery shop owner in Chandil Bazar.

However, displacement owing to Subernarekha Multipurpose Project (SMP) is the issue that may haunt both Sabita and Arvind with strong resentment brewing among villagers, who lost their land for the project.

'People from 116 villages were displaced for the SMP project nearly three decades ago. Nobody has ensured employment to the displaced nor paid adequate compensation),' rued Inderjit Sonar (45), a resident of Ichagarh.

The Subernarekha Multipurpose Project was approved by the Centre in 1982-83 and taken up for construction in 1995-96. The Rs6,613.44-crore project is aimed at irrigating 231,846 hectares in Jharkhand, 95,000 hectares in Odisha and 5,000 hectares in Bengal.'Chandil Dam has immense tourism potential but neither government nor leaders have taken any concrete step in this regard. A couple of years ago, a cruise was brought for use. But it has been gathering dust since then,' said Shyamal Mardi, a functionary of the Chandil Dam Visthapith Matasya Jiti Swavlambhi Sahakari Samity - a cooperative of the displaced villagers who go for fishing in Chandil Dam to earn living.Unke adhure sapne ko pura karne aayi hoon. Is baar jitney paar visthapithon ke hit ke liye sangarsh karungi. Mere pati ne yahan ke liye school aur roads banaye hain. Log unke kaam ke adhar par mujhe vote denge (I am here to complete unfulfilled dreams of my husband. I will fight for people 's rights,' she said.

• Ichagarh votes on December 9