The results of the Jharkhand Assembly Elections are set to be declared today. Ahead of the declarations of results, there are some seats that could provide some insight into the larger scheme of affairs. In this report, we shall discuss a few key seats in the elections.
Jamshedpur East
This is the seat the Jharkhand Chief Minister is contesting from. Raghubar Das has held this seat since 1995. However, this time, he is being challenged by BJP rebel and from Das’ former Cabinet Minister Saryu Rai. The Congress has fielded Gaurav Vallabh from the Constituency. The Prime Minister addressed a rally here on the second of December.
Dumka and Barhait
Hemant Soren, JMM’s CM Candidate, is contesting from these two constituencies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed rallies during the BJP’s campaign in both these constituencies. On 15th December, Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Dumka. And on the 17th, he addressed a rally at Barhait. It was in Dumka that Narendra Modi made the ‘rioters can be recognized from their clothes’ remark following the nationwide instances of mob violence. Hemant Soren had won the Barhait constituency in 2014.
Key Constituencies Amit Shah addressed
Amit Shah addressed 11 rallies in the State. As expected, he avoided the regions already covered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Of the rallies Shah addressed, Chakradharpur and Baghmara are constituencies one should keep an eye out for. The former has a JMM incumbent, Shashibhushan Samad, going up against the BJP State President Laxman Gilua. In Baghmara, incumbent BJP MLA Dulu Mahto goes up against Congress’ Jaleshwar Mahato.
Other Important Constituencies as Jharkhand results trickle in
Bagodar is another constituency to keep an eye out for as the Jharkhand results trickle in. CPI(ML) candidate Vinod Kumar Singh had won this seat in 2005 and 2009. But BJP’s Nagendra Mahto had managed to snatch it away from Singh in 2014. Khunti is another seat BJP has held ever since the state went to polls for the first time in 2005.
It will be interesting to see if the BJP manages to hold on this seat this time around. The Sili Constituency is one where the AJSU could have a chance of winning. It had won the seat in 2005 and 2009 but the JMM had managed to snatch it away from them in 2014. The Dumka, Khunti and Barhait are in the Tribal Belt and it will be interesting to see how things pan out at the end of the day.