JMM and Congress to jointly contest elections on 70 seats, announces CM Hemant Soren

Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly will be held in two phases — November 13 and November 20 — with the counting of votes scheduled for November 23.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday said that INDIA bloc will contest the upcoming assembly polls together and the Congress and the JMM will field candidates in 70 of 81 seats. Seat-sharing talks are on with alliance partners — the RJD and the Left parties — for the remaining 11 seats, he said. Hemant Soren and Congress's Jharkhand in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir announced in a joint presser. Hemant Soren however did not mention how many seats would be given to Rashtriya Janata Dal and how many seats would the Left Front contest.

The assembly polls will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20 and counting will take place on November 23.

"As per the first round of talks, we have decided that Congress and JMM will contest on 70 seats in the state. The other INDIA alliance partners will contest on rest of the seats," Soren said after meeting with the alliance partners and added, "Details regarding who will contest from which seat will be provided later."

In what could be more strength for JMM ahead of the assembly elections, three-term BJP legislator Kedar Hazra and AJSU Party's Umakant Rajak on Friday joined the political outfit. Hazra, a sitting MLA from Jamua who won the seat in 2019 by a margin of 18,175 votes defeating Congress' Manju Kumari, and Rajak, joined the JMM during a ceremony. Welcoming them to the JMM fold, Chief Minister Soren said both the old warriors, who actively participated in the movement for creation of a separate Jharkhand state, will strengthen the party.