The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finally found the candidate for Barhait Assembly constituency against Chief Minister Hemant Soren. BJP on Monday (October 28, 24) released its second list having the names of Gamaliyal Hembrom from Barhait and Vikas Mahato from Tundi.
On October 19, the BJP had released its first list having 66 names. In the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) seat sharing BJP has a got 68 seats in its kitty, whereas All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) has been given 10, followed by Janata Dal -(United) 2 seat and Union Minister Chirag Paswan led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has given 1 seat under the seat sharing arrangement.
Barhait is the stronghold of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) since 1990. Hemlal Murmu won the election from this seat four times in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2009 as JMM candidate. In 2005, when Hemlal Murmu became an MP, Thomas Soren won on the JMM ticket. For two consecutive terms in 2014 and 2019, Hemant Soren won this seat.
The contest on the Barhet Assembly seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes has become interesting. However, discussion has started among the BJP leaders that the party has fielded a weak candidate against Mr. Soren. Mr. Hembram does not have much experience in politics and joined this field five years back when he left his teaching job.
However, Mr. Hembram is known for organizing football tournaments in the region in which players from the country and abroad participate. He had contested the Assembly elections against Mr. Soren in the year 2019 when he was just 25 years old as a AJSU candidate. In the 2019 elections, Hemant Soren got 73,725 votes followed by BJP’s Simon Malto on second position with 47,985 votes, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) candidate Hopna Tudu has got 2,622 votes and Mr. Hembram was on fourth position with 2,573 votes.
Meanwhile, former working president of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee, Manas Sinha joined the BJP in the presence of Jharkhand BJP election co-in-charge and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and state working president Ravindra Kumar Rai.
Published - October 28, 2024 11:22 am IST