Jharkhand assembly elections 2024: BJP releases 2nd list; Gamliyel Hembrom to face off against Hemant Soren

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released the second list of candidates for the Jharkhand assembly polls. The saffron party fielded Gamliyel Hembrom as its candidate from the Barhait assembly seat against Chief Minister Hemant Soren. 

Soren is the sitting MLA from Barhait constituency in the Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. In the 2019 assembly elections, Hemant Soren won the seat by a margin of 25,740 votes against BJP's Simon Malto. 

Soren won from both Dumka and Barhait in 2019 but chose to retain the Barhait assembly seat, reserved for scheduled tribes (ST). Hembrom also contested from the Barhait seat in 2019 on an AJSU ticket but polled 2,573 votes. 

The saffron party also fielded Vikash Mahto from the Tundi assembly seat. 

On October 19, the BJP released its initial list of 66 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. The party plans to contest 68 of the 81 assembly seats in the state, leaving the remaining seats to its allies.

The JMM has declared candidates for 43 seats. In the 2019 elections, the JMM contested 43 seats, winning 30 and finishing second in five constituencies.

The elections for the 81-member House are scheduled in two phases on November 13 and 20, with the vote counting set for November 23.

The INDIA bloc partners will jointly contest the assembly polls, with the Congress and JMM fielding candidates in 70 of the 81 seats, while the RJD and Left parties will compete for the remaining 11 seats.

In the opposition, the BJP will contest 68 seats, the AJSU Party will take 10, JD(U) two, and LJP (Ram Vilas) one.

In 2019, the JMM-led alliance won 47 seats, unseating the BJP, which secured 25 seats. The JVM-P won three seats, AJSU Party two, while CPI (ML), NCP, and two Independents each claimed one seat.

A total of 2.60 crore eligible voters will participate in the elections, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters, and 1.13 lakh people from the PwD, third gender, and senior citizens over 85 categories.