Ranchi, Jharkhand (October 21, 2024): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a setback ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly elections as former BJP leaders Lois Marandi and Kunal Sarangi joined the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Monday.
Marandi recently resigned from the BJP, and now she has officially aligned with JMM.
According to media reports, the JMM is likely to field Marandi from the Jama Assembly constituency. Marandi made a significant mark in the 2014 Assembly election when she defeated Hemant Soren, the current Chief Minister and JMM leader.
Marandi has contested from the Dumka constituency three times. While she secured a victory over Soren in 2014, she was defeated by him in both the 2009 and 2019 Assembly elections.
Election Schedule and Alliance Updates
Jharkhand will go to the polls in two phases, with voting scheduled for November 13 and 20. The counting of votes will take place on November 23.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday announced that the INDIA bloc will contest the Jharkhand Assembly polls together and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress will contest 70 of 81 seats in the state assembly. Hemant Soren said the remaining seats will be contested by other parties of the INDIA bloc and talks are underway with RJD and Left parties.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha as part of the UPA (United Progressive alliance) contested 43 seats, 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.