E-Paper
BJP holds Ranchi Mayor post, JMM scores in urban pockets
Departing from the past, the state held its civic polls this time on a non-party basis, using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs). However, all mainstream parties, especially the BJP, JMM and Congress, backed candidates across all 48 urban local bodies in the state, including nine municipal corporations, 20 municipal councils and 19 municipal panchayats.
Bharatiya Janata Party-backed candidates won mayoral elections in three of the nine municipal corporations in the state including the prestigious state capital, where Roshni Khalko was elected Mayor. The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) gained ground in urban pockets, wresting power from the BJP in the Giridih and Deoghar municipal corporations.
Vote counting for the Dhanbad Mayor election was underway, with BJP rebel Sanjeev Singh leading by about 17,000 votes after the fourth round.
Departing from the past, the state held its civic polls this time on a non-party basis, using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs). However, all mainstream parties, especially the BJP, JMM and Congress, backed candidates across all 48 urban local bodies in the state, including nine municipal corporations, 20 municipal councils and 19 municipal panchayats.
Direct elections were held for the posts of mayor and chairperson in 48 ULBs, and for councillors in 1,042 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats.
While the BJP won three mayoral posts and the JMM won two, the Congress won the mayoral election in Mango Municipal Corporation (Jamsedhpur). The independents managed to win in two corporations (Hazaribag and Bokaro), while Singh was leading the race for the next Mayor of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation at the time of filing this report. Officials said the result for Dhanbad is likely to be announced on Sunday.
In the smaller towns, independents performed better than the party-backed candidates. Taken together, independents won almost half (19) of the 39 smaller ULBs (20 municipal councils and 19 municipal panchayats). While the BJP won in eight smaller ULBs, the JMM won in seven smaller ULBs, and Congress followed with two wins.
The results are significant because the BJP, which is considered stronger in urban pockets, lost ground compared to the last municipal elections held in 2018 when it won five of the nine municipal corporations.
Although the BJP leads other parties in the final scorecard, even the party insiders admitted the result is far from satisfactory because the party committed its entire election machinery and all top leaders to the campaign. The campaign was led by National General Secretary Arun Singh, who camped in the state, micromanaging the effort along with the state leadership.
Local leaders headed the campaign for the JMM and the Congress in the opposition camp. The top leaders of the JMM including chief minister Hemant Soren and Kalpana Soren did not hit the campaign trail. The state cabinet ministers were campaigning in their respective areas.
The BJP insiders said that rebels and poor candidate selection, in addition to the election not being contested on party symbols, cost the party a few seats.
“Hazaribag is a stronghold of the BJP. Arvind Rana who won, also comes from the larger Sangh Parivar background. But the party backed someone else. Several party cadre backed Arvind. The same has been the case in Dhanbad and Deoghar, where party rebels either won or dented the party’s fortunes. Even in smaller ULBs, the party choice of candidate was poor. In Chirkunda, the winner is a BJP rebel. In Chatra, the cadre votes got divided among rebels. In Dhanwar, the CPI ML won for the first time because the party vote was divided between the BJP candidate and rebels. The party lost due to a similar reason in Jugsalaia and Chakulia,” a senior party leader said.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, JMM leader and state Transport Minister Deepak Birua described the result as the growing influence of the JMM in the state politics. “Johar to the mandate. The JMM Parivar continues to gets stronger with your support. It’s the impact of Hemant Soren’s leadership that the Jharkhand BJP is fast moving toward becoming irrelevant in the state,”said Birua in a social media post.
