How Dumka Lok Sabha Constituency Can Weaken JMM’s Position In Jharkhand?
Shibu Soren the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) patriarch, also known as ‘Guruji’ and the eight-time MP from Dumka could not secure a record ninth term and lost to BJP’s Sunil Soren by a margin of over 47,000 votes. Shibu Soren’s loss was a major setback for Jharkhand’s principal party. Earlier, JMM supremo lost Dumka seat twice, once in 1984 to a Congress candidate and in 1998 to a BJP candidate. Former CM Hemant Soren won the assembly seat here in 2019, he is in judicial custody in an alleged land scam case.
This year BJP fielded Sita Soren, the 48-year-old estranged daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren, While JMM gave a ticket to Nalin Soren, a season 7-time MLA from Sikaripara assembly. Both BJP and JMM have high stakes in the seat the sitting MP of Dumka Sunil Soren is from BJP and the party state president Babulal Marandi has won from here twice.
The JMM tried to establish a deep connection with the masses and resonate with their sentiments. The party featured 44-year-old MLA Basant Soren for the campaign in Dumka whose command on Santhali forged him to connect with the voters.
Sita Soren, the widow of Shibu Soren’s eldest son Durga Soren who passed away in 2009 due to a brain hemorrhage, left JMM and her assembly seat to join BJP in March 2014. The Soren dynasty’s political succession sprung up after the ailing Shibu Soren and the arrest of Hemant Soren. However, Hemant’s wife Kalpana Murmu Soren has seen a rise in popularity and emerged as the frontrunner for the CM position when Hemant resigned.
The selection of Sita Soren by the BJP over Sunil Soren is seen to sow the seeds of discord between JMM and to secure the traditional votes of JMM. But Sunil Soren, voters are unhappy with the decision. The election result in Dumka will decide much about the JMM political future in the state which is set to go for assembly elections in October 2024.
The ruling coalition, here consists of the Congress, JMM, RJD, and CPI-ML(L), that has established seat-sharing agreements. The Congress is running for seven seats, while JMM is running for five.
