Will 'Third-Time's The Charm' Work For Kalicharan Munda In Khunti Lok Sabha Seat? (image: facebook.com/IncKaliCharanMundai)

Khunti Lok Sabha Constituency will be witnessing the face-off between Congress”s Kalicharan Munda and BJP”s Arjun Munda once again. In the 2019 elections, Arjun Munda emerged victorious by a narrow margin. By fielding Kalicharan Munda again, Congress hopes to avenge the previous defeat. Arjun Munda is also the Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare.

During the campaign trail, the Congress candidate alleged that the BJP MP did nothing for the development of the constituency. Kalicharan Munda stated that when he came to power, his focus would be on employment generation, enabling irrigation facilities, lowering migration from the area, and securing “Jal-Jungle-Jameen” for tribals.” He expresses confidence in defeating Arjun Munda this time.

In the 2019 General Elections, Arjun Munda defeated Kalicharan Munda by a margin of 1445 votes. In the 2014 elections, Kalicharan Das secured the third position. Das comes from a family of political lineage where his late father, T Muchi Rai Munda, was a known Congress leader, and his brother, Neelkanth Singh Munda, is a BJP leader and served as a cabinet minister in the Raghubar Das government.

The Khunti parliamentary constituency in Jharkhand is a Scheduled Tribes (ST) seat. The tribal vote bank holds particular influence on the electoral outcome since more than 60 percent of voters belong to different tribal communities. Khunti Lok Sabha seat was a dominion of the Congress and Jharkhand Party from 1962 to 1984. Since 1984, the saffron party has emerged as a strong force in constituencies, securing victory in eight out of ten elections. Now, the BJP and Congress are the two main parties in contention for the parliamentary seat.