Jharkhand Mukti Morcha patriarch and former chief minister Shibu Soren will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Dumka, eyeing a ninth term, as per the candidates’ names announced on Wednesday by party general secretary Vinod Pandey. The party also retained sitting MP Vijay Hansdak as its candidate from the Rajmahal seat.
The JMM president will take on Sunil Soren of Bharatiya Janata Party, whom he had defeated twice, in 2009 and 2014. However, Shibu Soren had also lost from Dumka twice, in 1984 and 1998, when the seat was within undivided Bihar.
The septuagenarian leader, who had been Jharkhand chief minister twice — for 10 days in 2005 and for 11 months in 2006 — has let his son, Hemant Soren, take the reins of the party, with the latter having been JMM working president for the past three years.
The party also announced its candidates for Giridih and Jamshedpur, reposing faith in veteran tribal leader and Seraikela legislator Champai Soren for the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat (general category), and named legislator Jagannath Mahto as the Lok Sabha candidate for Giridih.
In all, JMM will contest 19 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and West Bengal and five assembly seats in Odisha. Shibu Soren’s daughter Anjali Soren was the candidate for the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat in Odisha, where JMM will contest the general election and assembly polls in alliance with the Congress, said party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya.
{{/usCountry}}In all, JMM will contest 19 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and West Bengal and five assembly seats in Odisha. Shibu Soren’s daughter Anjali Soren was the candidate for the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat in Odisha, where JMM will contest the general election and assembly polls in alliance with the Congress, said party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya.
{{/usCountry}}The candidates for the five Odisha assembly seats are Mahesh Chandra Hembram for Saraskana; Sundar Mohan Singh for Bangriposi; Kalinga Kesri Jena for Morada; Sebian Aind for Buirmitrapur; and Sunaram Tudu for Rairangpur.
Candidates’ names for the four Lok Sabha seats of Bihar and 10 in West Bengal were announced, too. In these states, JMM will contest independently.
In Bihar, Javed Hassan has been nominated for Katihar; Manju Murmu for Purnia; Sukal Murmu for Kishanganj; and Rajkishore Prasad for Banka.
JMM candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal are: Santap Hansdah for Raiganj; Joseph Kisku for Malda North; Suresh Chandra Sarkar for Malda South; Naren Tudu for Balurghat; Nazmi Begum for Asansol; Biplab Marandi for Bankura; Dipendu Mahto for Purulia; Kamal Baske for Jhargram; and Shivratan Sharma for Birbhum.
The name of the party candidate for West Bengal’s Bolpur seat would be announced soon, said Bhattacharya.