Lok Sabha elections 2019: In Jharkhand, mega Oppn alliance hopes to dislodge BJP

While the BJP contested the 2014 assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the AJSU, the saffron party has allied with the party for Lok Sabha polls for the first time.

Four Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand will go to polls in the sixth phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on May 12.

All four seats going to polls are held by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). (Diwakar Prasad/ Hindustan Times)

All four seats going to polls are held by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the BJP has repeated three sitting MPs from their respective seats — Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Singhbhum — it has given the Giridih seat to its regional ally, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). The decision had shocked the cadre, as party MP Ravindra Pandey has won the seat for five consecutive terms, whereas the AJSU, led by former deputy chief minister Sudesh Mahto, has never won a Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP is contesting the rest of the 13 constituencies in the state. The opposition alliance -- between Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and Rashtriya Janata Dal -- has reached an arrangement under which the Congress will fight in seven seats, JMM in four, JVM (P) in two and the RJD in one.

While the BJP contested the 2014 assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the AJSU, the saffron party has allied with the party for Lok Sabha polls for the first time. The regional party has fielded incumbent water resources minister CP Chaudhary in Giridih. Jagarnath Mahto of JMM is his principal opponent.

In neighbouring Dhanbad, the Congress has fielded Kirti Azad, former cricketer and three-term BJP MP from Bihar’s Darbhanga who recently joined the party. In Singhbhum, reserved for scheduled tribes, the Congress has fielded another turncoat, Geeta Koda, MLA from Jagannathpur and wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, against BJP’s sitting MP and state unit president, Laxman Gilua.

“This experiment poses a risk for both the BJP and AJSU. BJP cadre on the ground did not like the decision, because the AJSU despite sharing power in the state has been very vocal in cornering the BJP on several issues. So it could have a bearing on the electoral outcome. For AJSU, the result could have a long-lasting impact,” said LK Kundan of Ranchi University.