Khunti Constituency: A Rematch Between Two Mundas in the BJP’s Stronghold
Khunti Lok Sabha constituency, one of the fourteen Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand, goes to the polls in the fourth phase. The constituency beholds a rematch between two “Mundas” of major political parties in the region. Arjun Munda, the sitting MP and the incumbent Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, is the candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Kali Charan Munda, the son of one of the most influential tribal leaders from Jharkhand, Muchirai Munda, is the Congress candidate for the 18th Lok Sabha elections. Two “Mundas” fight against each other for the second time in Khunti. There are seven candidates, including independents, in the fray for the constituency.
The constituency is a stronghold of the BJP, and the party has been continuously winning the Khunti seat since 2009. By giving tickets to Arjun Munda, the party has once again expressed confidence in him. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Congress candidate Kali Charan Munda lost to Arjun Munda by a mere margin of 1445 votes. The Congress believes Kali Charan’s influence can play a deciding role in the elections and can lead to a victory in this seat after two decades. As per the reports, the constituency will witness tough competition in this general election.
The Khunti seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes, which have 50 percent of the population of Munda tribes; 21 percent of the population belongs to the Christian community, while other classes comprise the remaining 29 percent. Established in 1952, the constituency comprises part of Ranchi district, part of Seraikella-Kharsawan district, and the entire Khunti district and Simdega district. The Khunti constituency consists of six legislative assembly segments, namely Kharsawan, Tamar, Torpa, Khunti, Kolebira, and Simdega. The BJP has 2 MLAs, the Congress has 2 MLAs, and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has 2 MLAs from these assembly segments. There were a total of 1202664 voters, where 93.32 percent of the population lives in villages and 6.68 percent lives in cities.
The BJP candidate, Arjun Munda, is a two-time MP (2009 and 2019) and also a former Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Munda was also one of the prominent leaders who demanded the separation of Jharkhand from Bihar. He has been a long-time NDA member and an important face of the BJP among the tribal people of Jharkhand. He is seeking his second term from Khunti, and in the 2019 elections, he won by a small margin, defeating Kali Charan Munda. The NDA alliance believes that with the support of urban voters and Modi’s guarantee, they can hold the seat once again.
The biggest challenge for the BJP in this election is to maintain its previous lead in the Tamar and Kharsawan assembly segments and improve its performance in Torpa and Kolebira. The Congress is pinning its hopes on Kalicharan Munda, a two-time contestant and former MLA from the Tamar seat, who possesses full support from Christian voters apart from the traditional vote bank of the Mundas. The grand old party manages a stronghold in rural areas. Munda believes that the newly-formed Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Jharkhand, under the leadership of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha”s Chief Minister Champai Soren, with the support of Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, will aid in securing the seat.
Kalicharan Munda claimed that the INDIA bloc will register victory by a huge margin this time. People hate the BJP because of recent political dramas and instability resulting from the arrest of Chief Minister Hemant Soren in Jharkhand, a Congress candidate argues. The incumbent MP, who is also a Union minister, is unpopular among the electorate as he has not laid a single brick in the last five years, he adds.
(This story is part of a Timeline. internship project.)
