Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party has fielded candidates in 21 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly polls. Voting for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will take place in two phases on November 13 and 20, while the counting of votes will take place on November 23.
The SP has fielded candidates on Barhi, Gadwa, Manika, Hussainabad, Vishrampur, Bhanwathpur, Chatarpur, Baghmara, Thundi, Nirsa-Jamshedpur, Barkatta, Badgoan Kanke, Pakud, Maheshpur, Rajmahal, Boryo, Sarath, Jamua and Jarmundi.
The Congress is fighting the polls in alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). In the recently held Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections, the Congress had not given a single seat to SP. In Jammu and Kashmir, the party had fielded 20 candidates. In Haryana Assembly polls, the Akhilesh Yadav-led party had decided not to field candidates.
The SP had emerged as the third largest party after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls after the BJP and the Congress. In the by-elections which are happening for nine seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party fielded candidates on all the seats and did not give a single seat to Congress.
The Mallikarjun Kharge-led Congress then decided not to contest the by-polls and back the SP candidates in Uttar Pradesh, where BJP is in power.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Manoj Singh Yadav said in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the SP had won two seats. "This time, we have fielded nine candidates from the places, where they are likely to win. The picture is clear on two seats in Jharkhand," he told ETV Bharat.
