Of the 56 seats won by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led INDIA bloc, 27 were from the assembly constituencies reserved for Schedule Tribe (ST) candidates. Once again, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stumbled at the hustings in this belt. Altogether, there are 81 assembly constituencies in the state, of which 28 are reserved for ST candidates, which roughly works out to about 35% of the total seats here. As per the 2011 census, STs account for 26.2% of the state’s population. The state has the highest number of Scheduled Tribe voters – 28% of the electorate.

In the 2024 assembly polls, according to the Election Commission website, the BJP managed to win only one of the reserved seats, and that too thanks to former chief minister and JMM turncoat, Champai Soren. Champai Soren was appointed as Hemant Soren’s successor after Hemant Soren, who had become chief minister at the end of 2019, was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a land acquisition case. However, five months later, when Hemant Soren reclaimed the chief minister’s chair, a disgruntled Champai Soren parted ways with him.

Interestingly, this time he won the Seraikella (ST) seat with a margin of 20,447 votes. In 2019, he had won the same seat with a margin of 15,667 votes, and in 2014, by just 1,115 votes. Thus, his supporters remained loyal, and his victory was stronger in 2024.

Meanwhile, Hemant Soren’s margin of victory at Barhait (ST) also increased to 39,791, from 25,740 votes in 2019. In the previous assembly elections, he led the BJP challenger by 24,087 votes.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won two of the 28 seats reserved for ST candidates, while the JMM secured 19. The Congress won six. With a total of 30 seats, the JMM formed a coalition government with the Congress (16 seats) and the RJD (1 seat). Hemant Soren became chief minister for the second time, after a brief tenure ending in 2014.

Political instability has plagued Jharkhand, and except for BJP’s Raghubar Das, no chief minister has completed a full term since the state was carved out of Bihar in 2000. Jharkhand is also the state where independent legislator Madhu Koda became chief minister in September 2006, a position he held for almost a year with support from several parties, who backed him as a ‘safe candidate.’

Amidst this turbulence, support for the BJP continued to decline in the tribal areas. From nine seats in 2005, it rose to 11 in 2014, but then plummeted to just two in 2019. Even in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, the BJP lost all five seats reserved for ST candidates. Notably, these parliamentary polls took place about four months after Hemant Soren’s arrest. Recognising the importance of tribal votes, Babulal Marandi-a Santhal, like Hemant Soren-was appointed the state party president in July 2023.

It didn’t help either. It is said that the RSS-affiliated Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram has not been as active in the tribal areas of Jharkhand as it once was. Some attribute this decline to a lack of coordination and cooperation with certain BJP leaders.

However, Babulal Marandi, who was appointed the first chief minister of Jharkhand after its bifurcation, won the Dhanwar seat with a margin of 35,438 votes. He is hailed by many in the state for his early contributions to the development of Jharkhand. But as chief minister, he was criticized for failing to keep his coalition partners united. As a result, BJP’s Arjun Munda succeeded him in 2003. When Munda was reinstated after the 2005 assembly elections, Babulal Marandi left the party the following year, alleging that he was not being given his due.

Marandi went on to form the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and contested 25 seats, winning 11 in the 2009 elections. However, over time, his party’s electoral fortunes declined, and he eventually returned to the BJP. The results indicate that he has yet to regain the confidence of his followers.

Considering these factors, the BJP attempted to play the “infiltrator” card. Party leaders accused the Hemant Soren-led government of allowing the unchecked inflow of Bangladeshi infiltrators, thereby depriving tribals and backward classes of their rights. However, it seems that this strategy did not work in Jharkhand.

(Jayanta Bhattacharya is a senior journalist writing on polls and politics, conflict, farmer and human interest issues)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Artists from the tribal community play the traditional drums as polling officials with EVMs and other election material leave for their respective polling booths on the eve of the last phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections, in Ranchi, on November 19, 2024.
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Over one crore voters will exercise their franchise in 38 Assembly seats, in the final phase of the 2024 Jharkhand Assembly polls today (November 20, 2024).

Phase-1 of polling in Jharkhand, which took place on November 13, saw a voter turnout of 66.65%, a 2.75% increase from the turnout for the 2019 election. 

Also read | Jharkhand Assrmbly election: Amid ‘infiltrator’ rhetoric, campaigns take different shapes in villages across Santhal Pargana

In the second phase, the BJP is contesting on 32 seats and its ally AJSU on six seats. For the INDIA bloc, JMM is contesting from 20 seats, Congress from 13, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) from four, and RJD from two. The JMM and CPI(ML) will have a friendly contest in Dhanwar while the Congress and RJD will engage in a friendly fight in Chattarpur and Bishrampur.

The prominent candidates in the second phase include Chief Minister Hemant Soren contesting from the Barhait constituency, his wife Kalapana Soren from Gandey, and his brother Basant Soren from Dumka; BJP State president Babulal Marandi from Dhanwar; Leader of Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly, Amar Kumar Bauri of the BJP, from Chandankiyari; Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren from Jamtara; and All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) president Sudhesh Mahato from Silli.

Read live updates here:

Hazaribagh, Jharkhand:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked the people of Jharkhand to bring the BJP to power in the state to protect their “roti, beti, and maati” (livelihood, daughters, and land).

Addressing the Parivartan Maharally in Hazaribagh, he termed the BJP’s Parivartan Yatra not as a mere political campaign, but as a movement to safeguard the state’s future, and promised security for Jharkhand’s daughters, land, and livelihoods under a BJP-led government.

“The BJP guarantees that the safety of these three will be ensured if the government is formed here. A new dawn will descend in Jharkhand with today’s Parivartan Sabha,” he said.

PM Modi criticised the current Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand government, accusing it of hindering the state’s development. He blamed the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance for rampant corruption and mismanagement, claiming it has betrayed the very people who voted for them in the name of protecting the state’s natural resources.

“Everyone here knows that the ruling coalition has allowed unchecked loot of water, forest and land. Jharkhand will progress only when this government is thrown out of power. BJP’s Parivartan Yatra is not only a political movement, but a Sankalp Yatra to fulfil the dreams of the people,” he said, accusing the Soren government of siphoning off funds intended for tribal welfare programmes.

PM Modi also attacked Jharkhand’s Abua Awas Yojana and Maiya Samman Yojana, labelling them corrupt schemes designed to deceive the public ahead of elections. “The people of Jharkhand have to be careful of those who sell lies,” he said.

Taking aim at the Congress, PM Modi accused the party of neglecting tribal communities while favouring a single family for decades.

“Congress did not give importance to the tribal society which made big contributions in the freedom struggle. All the schemes were brought in the name of the members of a single family. Such family-oriented thinking has caused immense harm to the country. Today I am proud that our government has given full respect to the tribal heroes. We all lovingly call Lord Birsa Munda Dharti Aaba. Today, in his name, our government has started ‘Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan’,” he said.

PM Modi also raised concerns about the state government’s failure to deliver on promises, such as providing jobs and allowances for youth and women. He alleged that paper leak scandals have severely impacted the state’s youth, with exam papers being sold under the protection of the government, enriching a select few while ruining countless young lives.

He urged the people to reject the current government and embrace the BJP’s vision for a prosperous, corruption-free future.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s car was stuck in a muddy pothole today in Jharkhand where he had gone for a public rally. In a video, the car Shivraj Chouhan was travelling in can be seen tilted and stuck in a large pothole on a waterlogged road amid rainfall. His security then rushes to the car, trying to assess the situation. At the end, Shivraj Chouhan is seen stepping out of the vehicle. 

#WATCH | Jharkhand | Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s car today got stuck in a muddy pothole amid rains today in Baharagora where he was for a public rally pic.twitter.com/ZYrZanee9K

— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2024

According to news agency ANI, Shivraj Chouhan’s car got stuck in Jharkhand’s Baharagora town. He is BJP’s Jharkhand election in-charge and was there to campaign for the party for the upcoming state assembly polls. 

While addressing a public rally today as it rained, Shivraj Chouhan drew an analogy between the dark clouds and the state’s ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party, saying, “Just as clouds have come as a crisis, Hemant Soren government is a bigger crisis than these clouds…This is not JMM but ‘Jurm, Murder and Mafia’ government run by Hemant Soren.”

“The clouds are raining, lightning is flashing, and it is raining heavily, but still you are determined to bring about a change… Seeing this, today I can say that the darkness will fade away, the sun will rise, the lotus will bloom and change will come,” he added, according to ANI.

The state assembly polls in Jharkhand are slated for later this year as the five-year tenure of the Hemant Soren-led government will come to an end in January 2025.