New Delhi. Bharatiya Janata Party has announced its candidates for Jharkhand Assembly elections. The party will contest on 68 seats in the 81-member assembly, out of which it has announced candidates for 66 seats. Announcement is yet to be made on two seats of BJP quota. The party has left 10 seats for its old ally AJSU. Janata Dal (U) has got two seats and Chirag Paswan’s party LJP has got one seat.
BJP has fielded party state president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi as its candidate from his old Raj Dhanwar seat. Apart from him, BJP has given tickets to five more former Chief Ministers or their relatives. Former Chief Minister Champai Soren, who left Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and joined BJP some time ago, has been fielded by BJP from his traditional Seraikela seat. Breaking its rule of not giving tickets to father and son together, BJP has made Champai Soren’s son Babulal Soren its candidate from Ghatshila seat.
Meera Munda, wife of former Chief Minister Arjun Munda, will contest from Potka reserved seat of Jamshedpur. Similarly, former Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s wife and former MP Geeta Koda has been made the BJP candidate from Jagannathpur seat of East Singhbhum. BJP has given ticket to former Chief Minister and Governor of Odisha Raghubar Das, his daughter-in-law Purnima Das Sahu, from the traditional Jamshedpur East seat. Similarly, BJP has given ticket to Sita Soren, daughter-in-law of former Chief Minister Shibu Soren, from Jamtara seat.
BJP has also fielded its former MPs in the assembly elections. Rajya Sabha MP, BJP Scheduled Tribe Morcha President Sameer Oraon has been given ticket from Bishnupur and Sunil Soren, former Lok Sabha MP from Dumka, has been given ticket from Dumka assembly seat. Sudarshan Bhagat, who was MP from Gumla and Ravindra Pandey, who was MP from Giridih, will contest the assembly elections from Bermo on BJP ticket.