BJP Unveils First Candidate List For Jharkhand Elections; Champai Soren To Contest From Saraikela

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections. According to the list, Babulal Marandi will contest from the Dhanwar seat, while Champai Soren will represent Saraikela.

Sita Soren is nominated for Jamtara, and Neera Yadav will run in Kodarma. Muniya Devi has been selected as the BJP candidate for Gandey, with Tara Devi contesting from Sindri and Apnarna Sengupta in Nirsa. Ragini Singh will represent Jharia, Geeta Balmuchu will run in Chaibasa, and Pushpa Devi Bhuiyan is the candidate for Chhatarpur.

Elections for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly are scheduled for two phases on November 13 and 20, with vote counting set for November 23.

On Friday, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) revealed its seat-sharing agreement: the BJP will contest in 68 Assembly constituencies, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) will field candidates in 10 seats, Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) will contest two seats, and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will compete for one seat.

In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, the JMM-led alliance secured 47 seats—30 for the JMM and 16 for Congress. The BJP obtained 25 seats, while the JVM-P claimed 3, AJSU Party took 2, CPI-ML secured 1, NCP 1, and independents captured 2.

Currently, the assembly consists of 74 members, with the JMM-led alliance holding 44 seats. Notably, two JMM legislators, Nalin Soren and Joba Majhi, are now members of Parliament, and Jama MLA Sita Soren resigned to run in the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket.