IN A stunning comeback, Hemant Soren’s JMM-led alliance on Saturday stormed to power in Jharkhand for a second consecutive term, winning 56 seats in the 81-member Assembly, despite an all-out blitz by the BJP-led NDA which managed only 24 seats. The majority mark in the State Assembly is 41 seats. The BJP was confident that it could turn the tide in its favour through an aggressive campaign that targeted CM Soren’s leadership, and raised issues like “infiltration” from Bangladesh and the Government’s alleged “corruption.” Though the BJP failed to replicate the Maharashtra triumph, where it secured a landslide, its vote share in the eastern State was more than the JMM. The BJP contested 68 seats and registered a 33.18 per cent vote share as compared to JMM’s 23.44 per cent. The BJP won 21 seats and emerged as the second largest party. JMM contested 43 seats and won 34, the highest-ever seats won by the party.

 

The Congress got 16 seats, RJD 4 and the CPI (ML) secured 2 seats in the INDIA bloc. The aggressive BJP campaign by its top brass, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, failed to resonate in front of the ‘Adivasi’ card played by the JMM, which also sought the people’s sympathy over the arrest of Chief Minister Soren. The JMM’s campaign also focused on promises of welfare schemes and accused the BJP-led Centre of using the ED and CBI as tools against rival parties. Both Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana managed to create a wave of sympathy among the tribal electorate, and despite the anti-incumbency sentiment, the BJP failed to capitalise on it, according to poll analysts. Soren, who retained the Barhait seat by defeating BJP’s Gamliyel Hembrom by a margin of 39,791 votes, had to resign as the CM in January before being arrested by the ED in a money laundering case.

 

He was released on bail by the high court in June, and in July, he returned as the chief minister of the state, replacing Champai Soren. In his first reaction to the poll outcome, Soren termed the INDIA bloc’s strong performance in the Jharkhand elections as a “passing of the exam of democracy.” “I express my gratitude to the people for this stupendous performance,” he said. Assam Chief Minister and Jharkhand BJP election co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma described the BJP’s loss as “painful.” Sarma aggressively campaigned against the JMM and accused it of sheltering “infiltrators”. “The loss in Jharkhand is deeply painful for me personally, even though we secured victory in all five by-elections in Assam,” Sarma said. Internal bickering within the BJP, especially over nominations for turncoats, seemed to have further hampered the party’s prospects.

 

The RJD also made a surprise showing, winning four of the six seats it contested. The CPI(ML) Liberation secured two out of four seats. The LJP (Ram Vilas) won its lone contested seat, and the JD(U) won one of the two seats it fought. The AJSU party, which contested 10 seats, was almost wiped out, retaining only one seat in Mandu by a slender margin of 231 votes. Its leader, Sudesh Mahto, lost the Sili seat. Soren’s wife, Kalpana, who played a key role in revitalising the JMM following her husband’s arrest, won from Gandey by a margin of 17,142 votes defeating BJP’s Muniya Devi. Kalpana won the seat in a bypoll on June 4 this year after it fell vacant following the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad. Kalpana’s political journey, which was never her initial choice, began in earnest after her husband’s arrest by the ED in connection with a money laundering case.