BJP leader Raghubar Das on Friday elected as the next chief minister of Jharkhand, becoming the first non-tribal leader to rule a state, which was carved out in 2000 of Bihar, to serve the tribal and reserved constituencies.

Das was unanimously elected at BJP's legislature party meeting in Ranchi.

BJP observer J P Nadda said after the legislature party meeting that Das' name was proposed by Sarayu Roy, another front-runner for the post and C P Singh and supported by all the party MLAs.

A five-time MLA, former deputy chief minister and BJP vice president Raghuvar Das and Saryu Roy, considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were the front-runners for the chief ministership.

Das, who won from Jamshedpur East by a huge margin, had thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party workers and the people of Jharkhand for the BJP’s good show in the assembly polls.

Breaking from fractured mandates in Jharkhand in the past, the BJP-AJSU alliance secured an absolute majority in the 81-member assembly this time. Out of total 81 assembly seats, the BJP won 37 seats while its ally AJSU Party secured five seats.

The BJP itself had two tribal chief ministers in the past---Babulal Marandi (once) and Arjun Munda (thrice). JMM leaders Shibu Soren (thrice), Hemant Soren (once) and Madhu Koda (once) are the other tribal leaders who had been the chief ministers since the state's creation 14 years ago. The BJP/Ajsu alliance got a majority, winning 42 out of 81 MLAs in the just concluded assembly elections.