Veteran leader Babulal Marandi, a former chief minister, Champai Soren, Hemant Soren’s ex aide and also a former chief minister, and his son are among BJP’s list of 66 candidates for Jharkhand polls released on Saturday evening.
The announcement comes hours after Hemant Soren declared that the Congress and the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM will field candidates in 70 of the 81 assembly segments.
The BJP is contesting on 68 seats. Its allies, the All Jharkhand Students’ Union will contest on 10, the Janata Dal (U) on two, and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) on one.
Mr Marandi, the Jharkhand BJP president, will contest from Dhanwar, while Champai Soren and his son Babulal Soren will contest from Saraikella and Ghatshila, respectively.
Champai Soren, a veteran JMM leader who had to quit as Chief Minister to make way for Hemant Soren upon his release from jail, crossed over to the BJP in August.
Sita Soren, the sister-in-law of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, is BJP’s nominee from Jamtara.
The list also has the names of Geeta Koda, from Jaganathpur, and former Union minister Sudarshan Bhagat fighting from Gumla.
Jharkhand will vote in two phases, down from the five phases in 2019, on November 13 and 20. Votes will be counted on November 23.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, the JMM as part of the UPA (United Progressive alliance) contested 43 seats, the Congress contested 31 seats and the Rashtriya Janata Dal seven seats in the 81-member assembly. The UPA attained victory by winning 47 seats against BJP’s 25 seats.
