Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. File | Photo Credit: ANI
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday (October 23, 2024) criticised the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for dynastic politics, pointing to their candidate list that includes “husband, wife, and brother.”
Mr. Sarma was referring to the JMM election list that includes the names of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife and MLA Kalpana Soren and brother Basant Soren.
“The JMM’s candidate list clearly reflects dynastic politics,” he said, noting the familial connections among the candidates.
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Mr. Sarma, who is BJP’s Jharkhand election co-in-charge, also suggested that the JMM lacks a diverse candidate pool, remarking that if needed, the BJP could supply additional candidates, referring to some leaders from the saffron party who have recently joined the JMM.
Polling to the 81-member Assembly in the State will be held on November 13 and November 20, and votes will be counted on November 23.
Of the 35 JMM nominees, Basant Soren, the incumbent Chief Minister’s brother, will contest from Dumka.
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.
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His wife Kalpana 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.
Basant Soren previously defeated former BJP minister Lois Marandi by over 6,842 votes in Dumka, a JMM stronghold.
This constituency was vacated by his elder brother, Hemant Soren, who won both Dumka and Barahit in the December 2019 Assembly elections and chose to retain the latter. Hemant Soren had won Dumka by a margin of 13,188 votes against Marandi.
Mr. Sarma said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders would come to Jharkhand after November 3.
Filing of nomination papers for 43 Assembly constituencies of Jharkhand, which are going to polls on November 13 in the first phase, began on Friday and will continue till October 25.
Altogether 2.60 crore electors, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters and 1.13 lakh persons with disabilities (PwD), third gender and senior citizens over 85 years of age, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the upcoming elections.
Published – October 23, 2024 01:09 pm IST
