Ranchi’s ATMs may have failed a couple of times in this election season, its four-time MLA didn’t as promised.
A thorough “Bhajpaiya from heart”, 59-year-old Chandreshwar Prasad Singh — aka C.P. Singh — romped home for the fifth time in a row since 1996, polling more than 95,000 votes and defeating JMM’s Mahua Maji by a margin of over 58,000.

The Modi magic apart, the capital’s favourite CP bhaiya’s USP has been his availability 24x7, almost like the automated teller machine. In fact, with even better accessibility than an ATM. Another factor that perhaps worked in Singh’s favour is that his challenger, state women’s commission chairperson Maji, is a political greenhorn. Though she bagged close to 37,000 votes, the novelist-turned-MLA hopeful was no match for former Assembly Speaker Singh’s stature and popularity.

The two other frontrunners for the prestigious Ranchi seat — Surendra Singh of Congress and Rajiv Ranjan Mishra of JVM — forfeited their deposits having polled barely 10,000 votes together.
During his campaigns, sitting MLA Singh had promised “sustainable development” to transform Ranchi into “a true state capital”, complete with motorable roads and flyovers for snarl-free traffic flow, and good drainage. 
Now, will he keep his word? “Of course. Voters trusted me. I will like to express my hearty thanks,” the five-time champ said as he prepared to join supporters in a victory procession from the Pandra Bazar counting centre to Albert Ekka Chowk.

Urmila Devi, Singh’s better half, said her husband had served the people and his hard work had borne fruit again. 
Out but not down, Maji had little regret. “Over 37,000 people showed faith in me — what a great achievement! I would have never received such wonderful public support had I not joined the election fray. I have become a JMM family member and will remain so,” she said.

Chhandosree

 

Old scores have been settled in Dhanbad.

Businessman Raj Sinha, who had debuted in Assembly poll politics in 2009 as a BJP candidate and lost to Mannan Mallick by mere 902 votes — that too because an Independent dented his vote bank — trounced the Congress heavyweight by a margin of nearly 53,000 five years down the line.

A postgraduate in history with a degree in law, Sinha started his political career in 1996 as a youth BJP leader and become the district president of the party in 2002. The 53-year-old’s candid approach and easy accessibility made him popular in the business circuit over the years. 

Sinha’s 2014 chances were buoyed by a string of star campaigners — from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed a 200,000-plus crowd at Barwaddah on December 9, and Union home minister Rajnath Singh to Union HRD minister Smriti Irani and BJP veteran Giriraj Singh.

On the other hand, former animal husbandry minister Mallick had only AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar garnering support for him. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s rally, planned at Barwaddah on December 11, two days after the Modi show, was cancelled at the final moment for reasons unknown.

The Modi wave also drowned the glory of infrastructure projects, like network of roads, re-launch of Dhanbad Dairy, establishment of fish kiosks and extension of water supply to remote areas, that happened during Mallick’s tenure.
“Residents of Dhanbad have voted for stability, development and a forward-looking approach. It is now our responsibility to fulfil the expectations of those who reposed faith in us (the BJP),” Sinha said after the results were declared.

Mallick took a smart bow. “I have worked for the development of the constituency to the best of my ability and I have no regrets over the results,” he said.

Praduman Choubey

BJP strongman and a possible contender for the chief minister’s post Raghubar Das retains the seat for the fifth time on the trot, tripping Congress challenger Anand Bihari Dubey 
by over 70,000 votes.

A seasoned politician who started off as MLA in the days of undivided Bihar, Das maintained a handsome lead over his rival throughout the counting process.

“I am happy to have won the seat for the fifth time. My win proves that people pinned their hopes on development and not political gimmicks. I will continue to serve my constituency like I have been doing in the past,” said the BJP’s national vice-president, who now seems to be within shouting distance of the hot seat given that Arjun Munda, his party rival and former chief minister, has lost from Kharsawan.

Pundits had predicted a tight contest for Das, but he pulled off a stupendous win due to his stature as a BJP stalwart and the way he nurtured his 3-lakh-strong constituency, essentially urban with a few semi-urban pockets.

The 58-year-old leader with RSS leanings won on his own strengths, but was also buoyed by the BJP’s successful campaign based on a stable, majority government.
His Congress rival was philosophical about his loss. “Winning and losing is part and parcel of politics. I am happy to have polled over 30,000 votes. I tried my best,” said Dubey, known to be popular among urban pockets of Baridih and Sidhgora.

Dubey played the caste card to try and consolidate the Brahmin vote in his favour. He also spoke of Das as an outsider. But nothing worked in his favour. Das is too well known in the area for these wild allegations to stick.

“In my opinion, Dubey should not have lost by such a huge margin. The margin would have lessened had JVM’s Abhay Singh polled about 25,000 votes. But Das was always a winner,” said R.M. Jha, an avid electioneer watcher.

Jayesh Thaker

 

Viranchi Narain, the BJP’s poster boy in Bokaro, scored a landslide win over five-time MLA and Independent candidate Samresh Singh.

In his debut poll run, the 43-year-old RSS loyalist polled more than 114,000 votes against the septuagenarian sitting legislator’s little over 40,000.

Billed the biggest constituency in the state, Bokaro nests nearly 500,000 voters and more than 60 per cent of them are urbanites. Also, a large chunk of the city electorate comprises educated youth aged between 18 and 35 years. They are believed to have tipped the scales in favour of a refined Viranchi who is almost an alter ego of a maverick Samresh.

A postgraduate from Ranchi University and Sangh supporter for 25 years, Viranchi had enjoyed a VIP-studded campaign with Union home minister Rajnath Singh and others throwing their weight behind him.
A mission impossible accomplished, Viranchi says the Modi wave and his predecessor’s laggard stint landed him with a thumping win. “Bokaro hasn’t developed in two decades. People voted for change,” the new MLA said.
Viranchi also plans to develop Bokaro on the lines of 
Gurgaon and Noida. “My target is a greater Bokaro, a better Bokaro for its cosmopolitan citizens.”

Samresh called the drubbing his sheer bad luck. “I accept people’s verdict, but will try to analyse where I went wrong. I will serve my people till my last breath,” he said.

Shashank Shekhar

 

Riding high on a NaMo wave, Manish Jaiswal reined in a potential dark horse in Hazaribagh and gifted the BJP its cherished bastion after a decade.

The 49-year-old industrialist, who the BJP fielded from the prestigious seat ignoring his family jinx of poll debacles, made the party proud by drubbing Independent Pradip Prasad, who enjoyed tacit support of not-contesting sitting Congress MLA Saurabh Narain Singh, by a margin of more than 27,000 votes.

BJP veteran Deo Dayal Kushwaha had won the Hazaribagh Assembly seat thrice before 2000. But then, the Congress fielded a blue-blooded and overseas-educated Saurabh Narain in 2004 and the royal scion etched a winning streak in two elections.

For Jaiswal, whose father Braj Kishore Jaiswal had tried his luck in the 2004 parliamentary polls only to be humiliated, 2014 became a do-or-die battle. With the odds stacked up against him, he purely banked on the Modi wave. And wisely so.

Thanking the people of Hazaribagh for reposing faith in him and senior BJP leaders like local MP Jayant Sinha for campaigning for him, Jaiswal said development would be his target. “Vikas hi mudda hai, par sirf Hazaribagh ka nahi balki pure rajya ka,” he said. 

Prasad (44), a former Ajsu leader, who had loyal supporters in both urban and rural pockets of the constituency, would have sailed through, but for the Modi spell. He sportingly accepted the popular mandate. “I thank voters who supported me. I shall continue working for them,” he said.

Vishvendu Jaipuriar

 

In a not-so-unexpected change of guard, BJP veteran Saryu Roy wrested the Jamshedpur West seat from Congress’s sitting MLA Banna Gupta.
Roy’s win by more than 10,000 votes can be largely attributed to the Modi magic as well as the surge in polling percentage from 42 in 2009 to 60 this time.

The 64-year-old BJP leader had lost to Banna by a slender margin of around 3,000 votes in the last Assembly elections. The tables turned this time, busting the myth that minority votes matter in a direct contest. 
Expressing happiness over his victory, Roy promised further development of the steel city. “I thank people for electing me... I will work for better infrastructure and growth,” he said.
Banna, visibly disappointed with his defeat, accepted the people’s verdict. “I had commissioned several development projects in the constituency in the past few years, but that somehow did not show today. However, I accept and honour the popular mandate,” he said.

Roy’s prospects had improved this time after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally at Gopal Maidan on November 29, two days before Jamshedpur West went to polls in the second phase. The rally not only brought people to booths, but also polarised non-minority votes.

“The BJP candidate’s chances were slim before the Modi rally. They improved after the PM’s visit,” said poll analyst R.M. Jha. A good chunk of Hindu votes went to Roy’s pocket as JMM candidate Upender Singh managed less than 2,000 votes. “They backed the BJP man to the hilt,” Jha added.

A Congress leader conceded that the surge in polling percentage also helped Roy’s cause. “Our minority votes remained intact even though only 70 per cent people from the community turned up at booths in Mango. However, the BJP candidate polled more non-minority votes than expected,” he added.

Jayesh Thaker