Jharkhand’s first Chief Minister, the BJP MLA Babulal Marandi, is contesting the upcoming State Assembly election from the Dhanwar constituency, but in a twist, he faces not one, but two INDIA bloc candidates
| Photo Credit: ANI

Jharkhand’s first Chief Minister, the BJP MLA Babulal Marandi, is contesting the upcoming State Assembly election from the Dhanwar constituency, but in a twist, he faces not one, but two INDIA bloc candidates: the CPI (ML)’s Rajkumar Yadav and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Nizammuddin Ansari.

The situation in Dhanwar is emblematic of the problems plaguing the ruling INDIA bloc in the State. A lack of coordination, delayed and tortuous seat-sharing negotiations that went on till the last minute, and now, a public spat between allies, is hobbling the campaign.

In a bid to untangle part of the mess, the CPI(ML) withdrew its candidate from the Jamua seat in the hope that Hemant Soren’s JMM would reciprocate by pulling back its candidate from Dhanwar. However, despite the prospect of a high-profile battle, with Mr. Marandi in the fray, the two allies could not reach an agreement.

Friendly fire

It is a straight-forward contest, according to Mr. Yadav, who says: “The contest is between me and Mr. Marandi.” He dismisses the JMM’s candidate Mr. Ansari, as a “B-team” of BJP.

Mr. Yadav and Mr. Ansari have faced each other four times in the past; in three of these contests, the CPI-ML candidate has garnered more votes, though they have each won the seat once before. Mr. Yadav won the seat in 2014, defeating Mr. Marandi who was then fighting on the ticket of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), which he founded after striking out from the BJP in 2006. In 2009, Mr. Ansari won the seat, as a JVM(P) candidate. But for the purposes of electoral negotiations, the CPI(ML) leaned on the significance of the most recent contest in the State election of 2019, which Mr. Marandi won. Mr. Yadav himself was third, behind the BJP by 2,557 votes, but Mr. Ansari was way down in the tally at sixth place, even behind the new entrant AIMIM.

‘Betrayal’

“The CPI(ML) has successfully stalled the BJP here in the past on our own strength without leaning on any alliance. We will do it yet again. If Chief Minister Hemant Soren was sincere about stopping the BJP, then why would you field a candidate who came sixth in the last election?” asks Mr. Yadav.

Both the CPI(ML) and JMM are targeting Muslim voters, who make up 14% to 16% of the electorate in the constituency. The CPI(ML) candidate has a slight edge, since 18% to 20% of Dhanwar voters are Yadavs.

“We withdrew our candidate from the Jamua assembly constituency in the interest of maintaining unity within the INDIA bloc. But the JMM did not reciprocate. It is a clear betrayal on their part,” said CPI(ML) State secretary Manoj Bhakt.

‘JMM failed as mediator’

Dhanwar is not the only seat where allies are standing against each other. The official seat-sharing formula of the alliance gave 42 seats to the JMM, 30 for the Congress, six for the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and three for the CPI(ML). However, the Congress, RJD, and CPI(ML) have all put up extra candidates. The Palamu district is a case in point, where both the Congress and the RJD have put up candidates in both the Bishrampur and Chhatarpur seats, though the former had been allotted to the RJD in the alliance and the later to the Congress.

“Mr. Soren made more than one tactical error. The first was not to call the CPI(ML) to the negotiating table. Second, was not to adequately compensate the Congress and RJD for the seats they were giving up,” a senior Congress leader said. When the talks between the allies over Dhanwar broke down, both the RJD and Congress reverted to the 2019 formula, claiming extra seats for themselves.

“JMM failed as the mediator, since they didn’t keep up their side of the bargain. There is no doubt if the alliance wins, Mr. Soren will continue as CM. The least they could have done was be generous with allies,” the senior Congress leader added.

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.