Jharkhand Election 2024: A review of the outgoing 5th assembly before the upcoming polls, with key figures

Jharkhand Election 2024: Elections to the elect 6th Jharkhand Legislative Assembly will be held in two phases on November 13 and November 20.

The results of the Assembly Electionswill be declared on November 23. The Assembly has 81 seats. A political party or an alliance needs at least 41 seats to form the government.

In the 2019 Assembly Elections,Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) emerged as the largest party with 30 seats, while theBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) bagged 25 seats, and the Congress won 16 seats. Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) got three seats, while All Jharkhand Students Union won 2 seats.

JMM formed government with the support of Congress and RJD. The alliance – part of INDIA bloc – is contesting the 2024 assembly election again with Hemant Soren-led JMM set to contest 43 seats. The Congress will field candidates from 30 constituencies. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will contest six seats while the Left parties will contest three seats.

Addressing a rally in Jharkhand on November 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exuded confidence that history will be scripted in Jharkhand this time with BJP winning highest number of seats.

PRS Legislative Research, an independent research institute, examined the functioning of theoutgoing Jharkhand between January 2020 and August 2024. Here are some key findings:

• The Assembly met for 118 sitting days over five years, which is 24 days a year on average. Between 2017 and 2023, state Legislative Assemblies across India met for 23 days a year on average.
• An average Assembly sitting lasted for four hours.
• No Deputy Speaker was elected for the duration of the 5th Assembly. The Assembly has functioned without a Deputy Speaker since March 2005. Article 178 of the Constitution mandates every Legislative Assembly to choose the Deputy Speaker “as soon as may be”, and this requirement has not been met in Jharkhand for nearly two decades.

• Hemant Soren was sworn in as Chief Minister in December 2019 and retains the position.
• For five months (February to July 2024, when Hemant Soren was arrested under PMLA). Champai Soren was the CM during that period.

• All but three Bills were passed on the day of introduction; trend has continued since 2000.
• Three bills were referred to Committees between 2019 and 2024

Bills and Ordinances

• Most bills relate to taxes and cesses.
• Seven Ordinances were issued between 2020 and 2024.
• Five of these were issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Jharkhand Mineral Bearing Land (COVID-19 pandemic) Cess Ordinance, 2020.
• Budget was discussed for nine days on average.

• 9 per cent of listed starred and short notice questions received a response from Ministers on the floor of the House.
• From February 2004, Chief Minister’s Question Hour was held in the Assembly for 30 minutes every Monday. MLAs could ask questions directly to the Chief Minister under this intervention. This procedure was discontinued in March 2022.