Political Mathematics Of Important Jharkhand Lok Sabha Constituencies: Dumka, Gonda, Khunti, Singhbhum And Rachi
Everyone’s eyes are set on the Dumka, Gonda, Khunti, Singhbhum, and Ranchi constituencies out of 14 parliamentary constituencies in Jharkhand. Jharkhand is the traditional stronghold of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) patriarch Shibu Soren. While BJP left no stone unturned in the Lok Sabha election 2024 as PM Narendra Modi addressed 6 rallies apart from election campaigns by the veteran leaders Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh in Jharkhand.
The June 1 exit polls predicted BJP’s win on 8-9 seats but the political pundits are expecting lower vote share for BJP candidates this year. However, it is predicted that the Modi wave has reduced in Jharkhand and people are unhappy with the BJP’s work here. The BJP politics of Hindutava and its main agendas including the Ram Mandir, Triple Talak, Surgical strike, and Kashmir issue though have influenced Jharkhand but 75.95 percent of its population lives in rural areas which are divided into caste equations, tribal issues, religious vote bank.
Talking about Dumka, here BJP has fielded Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law, Sita Soren, while Nalin Soren from JMM is in the fray. A long-time JMM member and 3 time MLA from the Jama Assembly constituency, Sita Soren joined the BJP recently, claiming she was neglected and felt isolated in the JMM. Dumka has been a JMM bastion for decades while Sunil Soren, the BJP candidate defeated the former Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren by more than 47,000 votes. This time Sita Soren has replaced Sunil Soren to fight on BJP ticket.
At the same time, BJP has fielded Union Minister Arjun Munda from the Khunti seat, here he is facing competition from Kali Charan Munda. Political analysts say that the INDIA alliance is strong on the Khunti seat.
BJP has fielded Nishikant Dubey from the Gonda seat. Here his competition is with Pradeep Yadav of Congress. Here, it is predicted that the road for Nishikant Dubey is not easy for Gonda because of the caste and religious voters. Here the people belonging to Pradeep Yadava’s caste are more in number and Muslims are also good in number.
BJP has made Geeta Koda its candidate for the Singhbhum seat. Here she is competing with Joba Manjhi of JMM. Singhbum seat is one parliamentary seat that has Maoist dominance with several Schedule Tribes including Uraon, Mahto (Kurmi), Santhal, Pradhan, Gaur, and Gop along with Muslims and Christians. Several of the Singbhum regions went for the election for the first time this year with successful arrangements by the security personnel. The addition of new voters will surely change the election result dynamics here.
Talking about the capital Ranchi, here BJP has expressed confidence in Sanjay Seth. His competition is with Congress leader Yashaswini Jaiswal. However, it is predicted that the independent candidates from Ranchi such as Devendra Nath Mehto will change the voter dynamics here as the Mahto votes are expected to divert from the BJP vote bank.
