assembly-elections

Updated: Nov 11, 2019 09:38 IST

Amidst the pull and push over Bishrampur and Ghatshila assembly seats, the Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) came out with their first lists of candidates for the Jharkhand assembly polls on Sunday.

While the Congress cleared the name of Chandrashekhar Dubey from Bishrampur, the RJD held its candidate’s name from the contentious seat of the Palamu region even after staking its claim.

The RJD has been allotted seven seats while the Congress will contest from 31 seats, as per seat sharing agreement.

The JMM that has bagged the largest share of 43 seats announced its first list of candidates for the Phase-1 of polls. The party reposed faith on its sitting legislator Chamra Linda from Bishunpur (ST), nominated Bhushan Tirkey from Gumla and Mithilesh Kumar Thakur (Garhwa). It has withheld the name of candidates to be fielded from Latehar. It will be announced tomorrow. The JMM will be contesting from four seats in the first phase

Both the Congress and RJD announced the names of their candidates from five seats each. The RJD reposed faith on former minister Suresh Paswan from Deoghar and its old war horses - Sanjay Singh Yadav from Husseinabad, Sanjay Prasad Yadav (Godda) and Satyanand Bhokta from Chatra. The party fielded newcomer Vijay Ram from Chatarpur.

The Congress announced the names of its candidates soon after the BJP came out with its first list. It includes state Congress president Rameshwar Oraon from Lohardaga, former ministers KN Tripathy from Daltonganj and Chandrashekhar Dubey (Bishrampur). The national party fielded newcomer Ramchandra Singh from Manika, while KP Yadav has been nominated from Bhawnathpur.

Interestingly, the Congress first list didn’t find the name of sitting party legislator Devendra Singh, alias Bittu Singh from Panki that will go to polls on November 30 along with 12 others in the first phase for which November 13 is the last day of nomination. Party sources said his name has been put on hold and is likely to be cleared on late Sunday evening or on Monday.

Even though the Congress and RJD announced their first list, the discomfiture within the grand alliance continues over Bishrapur and Ghatshila.

While the RJD was yet to settle down with the offer of seven seats against its claims of 12, Bishrampur in particular, the cohesion of the grand alliance loosened in Ghatshila as former Rajya Sabha member Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu was too keen to contest the seat that he had held twice in the past.

He knocked the doors of JMM and AJSU Party and willing to contest the seat as Independent if denied ticket. According to party insiders, Congress’s top leadership has called Balmuchu in Delhi.