Himanta Biswa Sarma shares NDA's seat sharing for Jharkhand elections 2024: BJP to contest 68 seats, AJSU gets 10

Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Jharkhand assembly co-incharge and Assam Chief Minister, on Friday spilled the beans on the NDA's seat-sharing for the upcoming assembly polls. Sarma said at a press conference seat-sharing among NDA partners in Jharkhand is almost final. 

 "NDA allies AJSU Party will contest 10 seats, JD(U) 2, and LJP (Ram Vilas) 1 in Jharkhand as per the seat-sharing arrangement, which is almost finalised," Sarma said. This implies that the BJP will contest from 68 of the 81 assembly seats in the state. 

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and AJSU party chief Sudesh Mahto were also present at the press conference.

During the press briefing, Sarma added that while the NDA's seat-sharing is nearly final, the saffron party has a "wait and watch" strategy since rival parties including Chief Minister Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are yet to disclose their plans. 

So which NDA ally got what in the Jharkhand pie? As per Himanta, AJSU will contest from Dumri, Silli, Lohardaga, Gornia, Pakur, Ichagarh, Mandu, Manoharpur, and Jugsalai. JD(U), on the other hand, will contest from Jamshedpur West and Tamar whereas LJP (Ram Vilas) has got the Chatra assembly seat, Sarma said. 

In the 2019 assembly polls, the BJP faced a major setback in Jharkhand. JMM emerged as the largest party with 30 seats in its kitty whereas the BJP won 25 seats.

The Congress bagged 16 seats, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) 3 and AJSU 2.  The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), CPI-ML, and RJD bagged one seat each. Two independents won in the state. 

Given that no party secured clear majority, JMM and Congress entered into a coalition to form the state government with Hemant Soren as the Chief Minister. The halfway mark in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly is 42. 

The voting for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly will be held in two phases -- November 13 (phase 1) and November 20 (phase 2).

Among the seats going to polls in phase 1 are Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur East, Jamshedpur West, Ichagarh, Kodarma, Barkatha, Barhi, Hatia, Baharagora, Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Hussainabad, Garhwa and Bhawanathpur. 

Counting of votes in Jharkhand will take place on November 23 along with Maharashtra.