INDIA bloc parties are blaming each other for their defeat in all Scheduled Caste (SC)-reserved and general seats in Jharkhand during the recently held Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won all nine of these seats while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led alliance secured all five tribal seats.
The RJD, which unsuccessfully contested one seat, blamed the Congress party for the alliance's defeat in the state. Similarly, the JMM's Jamshedpur candidate Sameer Mohanty also hinted that internal conflict contributed to their loss in the elections.
Amid the blame game, the congress party has announced an assembly wise review of INDIA bloc's performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The Congress also raised the political pitch by demanding JMM's two traditional assembly seats – Poryahat and Mandu. The JMM was defeated on both the seats in 2019 by Babulal Marandi's Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) and BJP candidates who later joined the Congress party.
Pradeep Yadav who contested and won on JVM ticket from Poryahat assembly seat joined the Congress after Babulal Marandi merged it with the BJP in 2020. Pradeep Yadav also unsuccessfully contested 2024 Lok Sabha elections against BJP’s Nishikant Dubey from Godda seat.
Similarly, JP Patel who was elected from the Mandu assembly seat in 2019 recently joined the congress when he was denied Lok Sabha ticket by the BJP. He also contested and lost the Lok Sabha election against BJP's Manish Jaiswal from Hazaribagh.
Speaking on the issue, political experts in Ranchi said that the INDIA bloc can give a tough fight to the BJP only if they remain united and choose candidates who have strong support in their constituencies.
The experts also pointed out that the JMM has been ambitious about contesting assembly elections independently. Due to this they keep increasing the number of seats during every assembly election.
In the 2019 assembly election the JMM contested 43, the congress 31 and RJD 7 seats. According to political analysts the JMM blaming others for their loss in Lok Sabha could be an attempt to create pressure on Congress party which has also been hinting at contesting more seats in the assembly elections.
The experts said that the Lok Sabha results will also impact the assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year. Despite a strong alliance between the JMM, Congress, RJD and CPI-ML, the INDIA bloc failed to get an edge over the BJP-led NDA in the state during the Lok Sabha.
There are 82 assembly seats in Jharkhand out of which 28 are reserved for Tribals and 9 for Scheduled castes. In the previous assembly elections, the JMM, Congress and RJD alliance clinched 47 seats. The JMM had secured 27 seats, Congress 18, RJD 1 and CPI(ML) 1. The ruling alliance also succeeded in securing 26 out of 28 ST seats and 3 out of 9 SC seats. Additionally, the JMM led alliance won 14 general seats. The BJP led NDA managed to secure 30 seats including two ST and six SC seats in the 2019 assembly elections in Jharkhand.
JMM led INDIA bloc’s performance in SC seats:Mangal Kalindi, the JMM MLA from Jugsalai (SC) assembly seat could not secure victory for his party’s Lok Sabha candidate Sameer Mohanty. Similarly, RJD MLA and minister Satyanand Bhokta from reserved Chatra (SC) seat and former Education minister Baidyanath Ram, the JMM MLA from Latehar reserved (SC) seat could not secure a lead for their INDIA bloc Congress candidate KN Tripathi.
INDIA bloc failed to attract Dalit voters:The INDIA bloc parties despite all lucrative campaigns and promises failed to secure even a single SC seat. Political analysts are of the view that the Dalit voters are not happy with the Champai Soren government for not getting any representation in the state cabinet.
Meanwhile, the JMM and Congress leaders claimed that Dalits, tribals, SC and OBC voters will continue to support INDIA bloc parties in the coming assembly elections. They cited the recent Gandey assembly by-election results as an example. Kalpana Soren won by a massive margin against the BJP candidate Dilip Verma.
Talking to ETV Bharat, the JMM and Congress leaders said that the ruling alliance has the support of tribals, Dalits and SC voters in the state. They pointed to the recent Gandey by-elections as an example where Kalpana Soren secured a victory against BJP’s Dilip Verma.
“We are confident that Dalits, OBCs, Tribals and SC voters will continue to support us. We will sweep the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand”, JMM leader Manoj Pandey said.
