Soren’s emotive campaign bucks Jharkhand’s poll trend

The alliance of JMM, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) won 56 of the state’s 81 seats.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance on Saturday bucked the state’s political tradition of voting out the incumbent as it retained its hold over the mineral-rich province on the back of a campaign helmed by chief minister Hemant Soren, with tribal identity and welfare as its key planks.

Supporters of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress celebrate in Ranchi on Saturday. (PTI)

The alliance of JMM, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) won 56 of the state’s 81 seats, improving on its tally of 47 from five years ago. The JMM won 34 of the43 constituenciesit contested.

“We have passed the exam of democracy in Jharkhand. I express my gratitude to the people for this stupendous performance. History was made today by the installation of an Abua Raj, Abua Sarkar (our state, our government),” Soren, who won from the Barihat seat by 39,791 votes, said.

The verdict solidified Soren’s stature as one of the tallest tribal leaders in the country as he linked his jail term in a corruption case to the question of tribal pride during the high-voltage campaign. He accused the BJP of falsely implicating a son of the soil on false charges and said the Opposition was formulating a ploy to stop him from working for the state’s poor. The JMM-Congress alliance won 27 out of 28 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the state.

“This government is the government of the people of Jharkhand. The people have expressed their unwavering faith in Hemant Soren. The way he was serving Jharkhand earlier as a son, as a brother, now in the coming times, he will work even harder than that,” Soren’s wife, Kalpana Soren, who won from Gandey seat, said.

The JMM also bridged the tribal-non-tribal fault line in the state, stressing the need to ensure overall development in the state. When the results were counted on Saturday, the INDIA bloc members emerged victorious on the state’s 29 non-tribal seats, including the five out of nine reserved for Scheduled Castes.

“Let’s resolve to remove Jharkhand’s ‘backward’ tag and make it a developed state. We invite people’s suggestions for improving industry, education, and agriculture sectors,” Soren said in a video message after the verdict.

The JMM was also buoyed by the response to its Mukhyamantri Maiya Samman Yojana, which gave ₹1,000 to poor women. By making the cash transfer scheme the focus of its welfare outreach, the JMM was able to win over voters whose identities lay beyond the traditional buckets of community or region, resulting in it winning seats across five administrative divisions—Santal Paraganas, South Chhotanagpur, Palamu, North Chhotanagpur, and Kolhan.

The ruling party also blunted the BJP’s aggressive campaign focussed on alleged infiltration by outsiders and Bangladeshis into Jharkhand, saying that the protection of borders was the prerogative of the central government. Every time a senior BJP leader spoke about infiltration, the JMM sought to switch the conversation to Hemant Soren’s imprisonment and the treatment of a tribal man at the hands of the central government—a pitch it was relatively more confident about. In the battle between aggression and sympathy, the latter eventually won.

“The result is a combined outcome of Maiyan Samman Yojna and the NDA’s undue focus on unnecessary issues like infiltration instead of cornering the state government on governance issues. They hardly gave any importance to local leaders, and it seemed as if the entire campaign was being led by outsiders who hardly have any connect with the locals,” said Sudhir Pal, an independent political observer.

Assam chief minister and BJP’s Jharkhand co-incharge, Himanta Biswa Sarma said their goal was to ensure the fulfilment of the dreams of the people of the state but added that they accept the mandate of the people.

“We fought with a vision to protect the state from infiltration and to lead it on the path of development, fulfilling the aspirations of students and youth.

However, we must humbly accept the mandate of the people, for that is the true essence of democracy. In these challenging times, we will stand firmly with our Karyakartas, offering them unwavering support and solidarity,” he posted on X.

A meeting of the legislature party of the INDIA bloc is set to be held at the official residence of the chief minister on November 24 where Soren is set to be chosen the leader of the legislature party, people aware of the matter said.

“We went into the election with a report card of five-year rule and a blueprint for the next five years. Out opponents should have come up with a similar approach but they chose other issues. People have now given their mandate, and we would serve them in the next five years,” Jharkhand Congress incharge Ghulam Ahmed Mir.