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Lok Sabha elections 2019 phase 4: Poll fight begins in Maoist-affected areas in Jharkhand
Maoist have a presence in the three constituencies of Lohardaga, Palamu and Chatra which go to the polls on Monday.
Over 3.5 million voters spread across the three parliamentary constituencies of Lohardaga, Palamu and Chatra will choose their representatives when the state goes to the polls on Monday. Elections to Jharkhand’s 14 seats will be held over the remaining four phases.
Lohardaga is a scheduled tribe reserved seat while Palamu is a scheduled caste reserved constituency.
Barring Chatra, where opposition alliance partners, Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, will put up candidates, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pitched against the alliance in Lohardaga and Palamu.
At present, the BJP holds 12 of the 14 seats in the state, including the three polling first.
In Lohardaga, two-term sitting MP Sudershan Bhagat faces a tough fight against current legislator and former Jharkhand Congress chief Sukhdeo Bhagat.
As the opposition candidate, Sukhdeo Bhagat will look to benefit from a consolidation of opposition votes. Sudarshan Bhagat, the Union minister of state for tribal affairs, had scraped through with just over 6,000 votes in a multi-cornered contest in 2014.
Lohardaga, a seat with a sizeable tribal Christian and Muslim population, faces local factors such as the Pathalgadi movement — wherein the communities proclaim allegiance to the Constitution but reject all authority except that of their gram sabhas (village assemblies) — and the anti-conversion law, a state statute, promulgated in 2017.
Maoist have a presence in the three constituencies.
The BJP won both Palamu and Chatra by handsome margins in 2014. The party is seeking re-election of its sitting MPs, former state director general of police Vishnu Dayal Ram and Sunil Singh. While Ram is locked in a direct fight with RJD’s Ghutan Ram, Singh will face both, RJD and Congress candidates — Subhash Prasad Yadav and Manoj Yadav respectively — as well as Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Nageshwar Ganjhu.
A letter issued by Inspector General of police (provisions) Arun Kumar Singh recently stated in addition to the 94 companies of paramilitary forces already stationed in the state, an additional 60 companies of central paramilitary forces, along with 52 companies of the Indian Reserve Battalion and Jharkhand Armed Police, would be moved to the districts ahead of elections.
“The grand alliance would prove formidable for ruling parties. But the alliance is lacking in coordination and planning on these three seats. Its benefit might go to BJP,” said LK Kundan, associate professor of Ranchi University, referring to the RJD and Congress both putting up candidates in Chatra, despite being in an alliance.
