Barhait Assembly Election 2024: The Barhait Assembly constituency is set for a high-stakes battle in the 2024 elections, as Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and state chief minister Hemant Soren will take on the BJP candidate Gamliyel Hembrom, seeking a third consecutive win. Soren won the seat in both the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections. This seat was previously held by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Hemant Soren. This time, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the main parties in the constituency. The Barhait Assembly constituency is a bastion of JMM as it remained invincible on the seat. The ruling party won all five elections held on the seat.
Key candidates
The key candidates for the Barhait seat are BJP leader Gamliyel Hembrom, JMM leader Hemant Soren, Nationalist Congress Party candidate Dinesh Soren and Ambedkarite Party of India's Rani Hansda. Notably, the JMM, Congress, RJD and CPI-ML are jointly contesting the Jharkhand polls under I.N.D.I.A. bloc, while the BJP is contesting with All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), Janata Dal (United) and Chirag Paswan led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
As per seat arrangement in NDA, BJP is contesting in 68 seats, AJSU in 10 seats, JD-U in 2 seats and LJP (Ram Vilas) has been given 1 seat. In the INDIA bloc, JMM is contesting in 43 seats, Congress in 30, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 6 and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in 4 seats. The ruling JMM is fighting a friendly contest with CPI-ML in the Dhanwar seat.
Barhait Assembly Constituency
Designated as constituency number 3, Barhait is one of the six assembly constituencies in the Sahebganj district of Jharkhand. It is part of the Rajmahal Lok Sabha constituency, which also includes five other assembly constituencies: Rajmahal, Sahebganj, Borio (ST), Litipara (ST) and Maheshpur (ST). Barhait is a small town in the Sahibganj subdivision of the Sahibganj district. The postal code of the town is 816102. The main post office is at Barhait.
Barhait Constituency Demographic Profile
As per data from the Election Commission, there were 1,38,243 voters in the Barhait constituency during the 20219 Assembly Elections. Out of this, 70,325 were male and 67,652 were female voters. No voter belonged to the third gender. 266 postal votes were cast in the constituency. The number of service voters in Barhait in 2019 was 62 (62 men and 0 woman).
In 2014, the total number of voters in the Barhait constituency was 1,35,382. Out of this, 70,010 voters were male and 65,286 were female voters. There were 86 valid postal votes in the constituency. The number of service voters in Barhait in 2014 was 21 (17 men and 4 women).
When will Barhait vote?
The 2024 Assembly elections in Barhait are scheduled for November 20 (Wednesday) in the second phase. Jharkhand will go to the polls in two phases, on November 13 and November 20. The results will be announced on November 23 (Saturday).
Past winners on the Barhait seat
- 2019 Hemant Soren JMM
- 2014 Hemant Soren JMM
- 2009 Hemlal Murmu JMM
- 2005 Thomas Soren JMM
What happened in the 2019 and 2014 Assembly Elections?
In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, Hemant Soren of the JMM defeated Simon Malto of the Bharatiya Janata Party with a margin of 25,740 votes (19.03%). Soren was polled 73,725 votes with 53.49% vote share. Malto got 47,985 votes with 34.82% vote share.
In the 2014 Jharkhand elections, JMM's Hemant Soren defeated BJP leader Hemlal Murmu from Barhait Assembly seat by 24,087 votes (18.12% margin). Soren got 62,515 votes with 46.18% vote share, while Murmu bagged 38,428 votes with 28.38% vote share.
Jharkhand Assembly Elections
The elections will take place in two phases, on November 13 and November 20, with counting scheduled for November 23. 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, will 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.
