Ranchi: The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress combine in Jharkhand declared their seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Assembly elections. Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the INDIA bloc will fight the polls together and that the JMM and the Congress will contest 70 of the state’s total 81 seats.
CM Soren indicated that the remaining 11 seats have been left for the INDIA bloc’s other allies such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Left. He, however, did not divulge the details of the seats being contested by various INDIA partners.
Meanwhile, the Congress leader addressed a public gathering at Ranchi today. “Leader of the Opposition Shri RahulGandhi Addressed the gathering in ‘Samvidhan Samman Sammelan’. Constitution is the pride of our country. Therefore, we have to respect the Constitution and also protect it. Jai Democracy Jai Constitution”, he wrote on X.
The seat-sharing announcement, made by the leaders of the JMM and the Congress at a joint press conference in Ranchi, however upset the RJD, which called it “unilateral”.
According to the sources, the Communist Party of India (M-L) and Marxist Coordination Committee (MMC) also want to join forces with the JMM and Congress in this election. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which fought on seven seats in the last assembly polls, is expected to contest fewer seats this time and agree to give the Bagodar seat to CPI (M-L) and Nirsa to MMC, they added.
Mr Soren’s announcement came a day after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) revealed its seat-sharing formula for the state. BJP will contest 68 seats, while its allies, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) will contest 10, Janata Dal (United) will contest two and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will contest the lone seat of Chatra.
In the last elections, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM had contested 43 seats while Congress contested 31 seats. But this time around, the Congress is likely to get somewhere between 27 to 28 seats, sources said. The JMM is expected to increase its share because it believes that Hemant Soren is a key face in Jharkhand and the grand alliance will get votes on his name, they added.
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