Ranchi: In a big development ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly elections 2024, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) Party's central vice-president Umakant Rajak and three-time MLA of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Jamua constituency Kedar Hazra joined the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) of Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday. The defection came just after the announcement of the seat-sharing pact of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state. According to the arrangement, the BJP will contest 68 seats, while the Sudesh Mahto-led AJSU will field candidates in 10 seats. The Janata Dal-United (JDU) of Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV) will contest two and one seats, respectively.
According to the available information, both will contest the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections on the JMM ticket, and Kedar Hazra will be in the fray from the Jamua seat.
The development comes after Congress leader Manju Devi recently left the 'Grand Old Party' and joined the BJP. In such a situation, it is being speculated that the BJP can make Manju Devi a candidate from Jamua this time. Therefore, Kedar Hazra has decided to change sides.
In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, Kedar Hazra defeated Congress candidate Manju Devi by 18,175 votes. Earlier, Kedar Hazra won the Jamua seat in the 2005 and 2014 elections. However, he lost the election in 2009.
Earlier this week, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the JMM-led alliance will contest all 81 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Speaking after a central committee meeting of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Monday, Soren expressed confidence in the party's electoral preparedness and asserted that the alliance would regain power in the state.
Jharkhand will vote in two phases on November 13 and 20, and results will be declared along with Maharashtra on November 23. There are 81 constituencies in the Jharkhand Assembly.
"I participated in the JMM central committee meeting today along with all other workers and executive committee members. We reviewed our election preparedness, and we are confident of winning the Assembly elections. The JMM-led alliance will contest all the 81 seats," Soren said after the meeting.
He said unlike the opposition BJP, the JMM-led alliance does not believe in making only announcements as it executed several welfare schemes. JMM legislator and Soren's wife Kalpana Soren said the alliance was confident of victory as it was voted to power in 2019 despite a "double-engine" BJP government.
