The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) released its first and second list of candidates for the upcoming Jharkhand assembly elections. While first list was released on Tuesday, the second list was released on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren's party named only one candidate, Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji, in the second list. She will contest the state polls from Ranchi.
Maji, who was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha in June 2022, previously served as the chairperson of the Jharkhand State Commission for Women and was the former president of the JMM's women's wing.
She had contested the Ranchi Assembly seat unsuccessfully in 2014 and 2019.
The JMM released its first list of 35 candidates late Tuesday. As per the first list, Chief Minister Hemant Soren was fired from Barhait and Kalpana Soren from Gandey segments.
Hemant Soren is the sitting MLA from Barhait (ST) constituency in Sahibganj district. He won the seat by 25,740 votes over his nearest BJP rival Simon Malto in the 2019 assembly elections.
CM Soren's wife Kalpana Soren had won the Gandey bypoll by 27,149 votes over her nearest BJP rival Dilip Kumar Verma. The seat had fallen vacant following the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad.
Of the 35 JMM nominees, Basant Soren, the incumbent chief minister's brother, will contest from Dumka, Assembly Speaker Rabindranath Mahto from Nala, Minister Mithilesh Thakur from Garhwa, Sonu Sudivya from Giridih and Bebi Devi from Dumri.
The INDIA bloc partners – the JMM and the Congress – will contest the upcoming Jharkhand elections together, with the Congress and JMM competing for 70 of the 81 seats, while the remaining 11 will be contested by the RJD and Left parties. The RJD announced candidates for six seats on Tuesday.
The Jharkhand elections are set to take place in two phases on November 13 and 20, with results to be announced on November 23.
