Jharkhand assembly elections 2024: Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Sunday confirmed that his party will contest the upcoming Jharkhand assembly election, scheduled to be held later this year. He further said that discussion was underway for all options including contesting the election in alliance or alone.
This statement came a day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also BJP's election co-incharge for Jharkhand polls, intended to contest the elections in collaboration with the AJSU Party and Janata Dal (United). The LJP (Ram Vilas) is currently a part of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.
'Contesting polls in alliance or alone'
"The LJP state unit is discussing all options including contesting the polls in alliance or alone...," Paswan, the Union Food Processing Industries minister told reporters at Ranchi's Birsa Munda Airport.
Paswan will address a public meeting in Dhanbad on Sunday.
He further said that LJP (Ram Vilas) had a strong mass base in Jharkhand. "When I was born, Jharkhand was in a unified Bihar. This had been a workplace for my father. The party has developed a strong mass base in the state. In such a situation, it has been decided that the party will contest the upcoming assembly polls," he said.
The Assam CM on Saturday said, "The BJP will contest the Jharkhand elections in alliance with AJSU Party and JD(U). The seat-sharing agreement with the allies has been done on 99 per cent of the seats. Discussions are underway for the remaining one or two seats and it will be finalised soon," he said while speaking to reporters in Ranchi.
Jharkhand Assembly elections
Assembly elections in Jharkhand are scheduled to be held later this year. In 2019, elections for the 81 assembly seats were conducted in five phases from November 30 to December 20 and the results were announced on December 23.
According to the Election Commission sources, this time, the polls are likely to take place in two to three phases.
Currently, the state is governed by a coalition led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), with Congress and RJD as key partners. In the 2019 elections, the JMM won 30 seats, the BJP secured 25, Congress got 16, and other parties shared the remaining 10 seats. The majority mark for the 81-seat assembly is 41 seats.
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