The last day of campaigning for the final phase of elections to the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly ended on Thursday, with polling in 16 constituencies in the Santhal Pargana region, along the West Bengal border, scheduled for Saturday. Among the 208 candidates is Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is contesting in his sitting constituency of Dumka and nearby Barhet town.
On a weekday morning, while hectic campaigning was on, more than 150 people looking for daily wage work gathered at Teen Bazari Chowk at the centre of Dumka town. In 2009, Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) defeated BJP candidate Louis Marandi here by a margin of 2,669 votes.
The workers, including painters, masons and construction labourers, said their main concern was the difficulty in finding work. “Every day for the past three months, almost half of us have returned home without finding work. The wages have remained the same for a year, at Rs. 180 a day. I reach by 8 a.m. and wait till 9.30 a.m. for clients who offer work, but on several days, there is no work,” said Nithur Mandal, who had travelled 18 km from his village of Chakaltipur, Jama.
At Raebandh village in Shikaripara, 40 km away, people said poor implementation of public schemes such as the MGNREGS and incomplete irrigation schemes continued to lead to distress migration every January. At Ghogharia, one pond and two wells had been dug under the MGNREGS, but people said the wages at the rate of Rs. 138 per day were delayed.
Here, the contest is among Nalin Soren of the JMM, who has held the seat for 25 years, Paritosh Soren of Babulal Marandi’s Jharkand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), and Munni Hansda, a tribal activist fighting on the Marxist Coordination Committee ticket. The BJP is backing Lok Janshakti Party candidate Shivdhan Murmu.
