Hemant Soren’s JMM-led INDIA bloc keeps Jharkhand

JMM-led alliance retains Jharkhand Assembly with highest vote share, defeating BJP in a humiliating defeat.

Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance is all set to retain Jharkhand’s 81-member State Assembly, data from the Election Commission of India showed on Saturday (November 23, 2024). The same leadership is returning to power consecutively for the first time in Jharkhand’s history. This is also the JMM’s best electoral performance in the State.

Out of 81 Assembly seats, the JMM-led INDIA bloc won 56 seats. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured only 24 seats, which is less than its tally in the previous Assembly election. The JMM has won 34 seats, the Congress won 16 seats, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won four seats, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation has won two seats.

Jharkhand election results 2024: LIVE coverage

In the Opposition NDA, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 21 seats, and one seat each was won by its alliance partners, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U).

Mr. Soren won the Barhait Assembly segment by defeating the BJP’s Gamilyel Hembrom. His wife, Kalpana Soren, won the Gandey seat by defeating the BJP’s Muniya Devi. Other prominent faces who won include Nishat Alam, wife of jailed Congress leader Alamgir Alam, from Pakur; Mr. Soren’s younger brother Basant Soren, from Dumka; BJP State president Babulal Marandi, from Dhanwar; Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto, from Nala; Champai Soren, from Saraikela; and Babulal Marandi, from Dhanwar.

Rhetoric on ‘infiltration by Bangladeshis’, corruption, and demographic changes in the Santal Pargana appear to have backfired for the BJP, with none of these issues bringing it favour.

The result is a humiliating defeat for the BJP as its top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who campaigned in the tribal-dominated State. Six Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States campaigned for the NDA’s candidates, as did Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president J.P. Nadda.