Maheshpur Assembly Election Result 2024: The counting of votes for the Jharkhand Assembly elections is underway. Maheshpur is one of the constituencies which went to poll in the second phase of the election on November 20. The constituency witnessed a contest between senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Stephen Marandi and BJP candidate Navneet Hembrom. As per the Election Commission's website, JMM's Marandi is currently leading by around 16,000 votes followed by BJP's Hembrom. The seat is considered a stronghold for Marandi who is looking to make a hattrick of win here. In the last Assembly election in 2019, Stephen Marandi won the Maheshpur seat, defeating Mistry Soren of the Bharatiya Janata Party. As per the Election Commission, Maheshpur seat recorded a voter turnout of 79.82 per cent.
Maheshpur has historically seen a battle between the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which holds significant sway over the tribal electorate, and other parties like the BJP and Congress. This assembly constituency has more than 25 per cent Muslim voters and is only about 60 km from the Bangladesh border. The Scheduled Tribes (ST) population forms a large part of the electorate, as Maheshpur falls under a reserved ST category constituency.
Maheshpur Assembly Constituency 2019 and 2014 winners
In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly Elections, JMM's Stephen Marandi won the Maheshpur seat with a margin of 34,106 votes. He was polled 89,197 votes with a vote share of 53.94%. He defeated BJP candidate Mistry Soren, who got 55,091 votes (33.31%). CPI(M) candidate Gopin Soren stood third with 5,176 votes (3.13%). The total number of valid votes polled was 1,63,427.
In the 2014 Jharkhand Assembly Elections, JMM candidate Stephen Marandi won the seat with a margin of 6,156 votes. He was polled 51,866 votes with a vote share of 32.25%. He defeated BJP candidate Devidhan Tudu, who got 45,710 votes (28.42%). JVM candidate Mistry Soren stood third with 31,276 votes (19.45%). The total number of valid votes polled was 1,58,304.
Jharkhand Assembly Elections
The elections took place in two phases, on November 13 and November 20. According to the Election Commission of India's data, about 2.60 crore electors, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters and 1.13 lakh persons with disabilities, third-gender individuals, and senior citizens over 85, were eligible to exercise their franchise. The BJP, which lost power to the JMM-led alliance in Jharkhand in 2019, is looking to reclaim its position in the tribal-dominated state.
In 2019, the ruling JMM-led alliance bagged 47 seats, wresting power from the saffron party in the state. The JMM had secured 30 seats, while the Congress bagged 16, and the RJD one seat. The BJP had managed to win 25 seats, JVM-P three, AJSU Party two, and the CPI-ML and NCP one each, besides two Independents emerging victorious.
