The three seats in Jharkhand going to polls in the seventh and last phase of 2019 Lok Sabha election on Sunday will witness direct contest between the ruling BJP and the main opposition JMM .
A total of 44.8 lakh voters will exercise their franchise on May 19 for choosing their representative from among 42 candidates across Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda Lok Sabha seats. The BJP is eyeing to make inroads into the tribal-dominated Santhal Parganas division which is considered a stronghold of Shibu Soren-led front.
Dumka and Rajmahal constituencies are reserved for scheduled tribes, while Godda is unreserved. While Godda is currently with the BJP, Dumka and Rajmahal are in JMM’s kitty. These are the only two of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies the BJP failed to win despite the ‘Modi Wave’ in 2014.
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JMM president Shibu Soren, popularly called ‘Guruji’, has contested 11 times from Dumka and won on eight occasions. The 72-year-old, arguably the biggest mass leader in the state, is in the ring again looking for his record ninth win from the seat.
Currently he is tied with BJP veteran Karia Munda, who represented Khunti Lok Sabha in South Chhotanagpur division eight times. Munda has been rested time by the party because of his age.
{{/usCountry}}Currently he is tied with BJP veteran Karia Munda, who represented Khunti Lok Sabha in South Chhotanagpur division eight times. Munda has been rested time by the party because of his age.
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The BJP has fielded Sunil Soren against Guruji. Sunil is a former JMM legislator from Jama and had lost by just over 39,000 votes to the JMM patriarch in 2014 Lok Sabha election.
Similarly, Rajamahal has been a JMM fortress. Outgoing MP Vijay Hansdak is in the contesting again as candidate of the grand opposition alliance. Hansdak won in 2014 against BJP’s Hemlal Murmu, a former MP. Murmu was with the JMM when he won from Rajmahal in 2004. He switched sides ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election and contested as BJP candidate but lost to Hansdak.
BJP has once again reposed faith in Murmu with an aim to wrest the seat from Hansdak, whose father Thomas Hansdak has also represented the seat in Parliament as a Congress nominee.
The BJP, however, has an upper hand in Godda Lok Sabha seat. Nishikant Dubey of the BJP, who has represented the seat since 2009, is up against JVM (P)’s Pradip Yadav, a five-term legislator from Poraiyahat assembly segment. Yadav is general secretary of the Babulal Marandi-led JVM (P), which got the seat in seat sharing arrangement of the grand opposition alliance.
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The BJP has left no stone unturned in its effort to make inroads into this JMM bastion. Party insiders said the party has been focusing in the area ever since the party came into power in 2014, both at the Centre and state, and now they are expecting to reap political benefits.
Political analyst LK Kundan said the seventh phase is critical for both fronts as it would have a bearing on assembly elections scheduled in November-December.
“If BJP is able to make a dent in Dumka and Rajmahal, it will claim that people have voted for development they have brought in the area and the electorate has rejected the traditional tribals leaders. And that could also lead mass exodus of political workers into the BJP fold. For the opposition alliance, losing these seats could change equations among the allies for assembly polls. Stakes for both JMM and JVM (P) are very high here. Loss would raise questions over their credibility and bargaining power would diminish,” said Kundan, who teaches political science at Ranchi University.