Kalpana Soren seeks to consolidate May bypoll win in Gandey, taking on a BJP debutante

Gandey MLA Kalpana Soren, wife of Jharkhand CM, faces BJP's Muniya Devi in State Assembly election.

Gandey MLA Kalpana Soren, wife of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, will be the cynosure of many eyes in the second phase of polling in the State Assembly election, set to take place on November 20.

Having made her political debut by winning the byelection for the Gandey seat while her husband was in jail for alleged money laundering earlier this year, Ms. Kalpana Soren has matured in the political spotlight by becoming a star campaigner for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha over the last few months. The party has shown its confidence in her by fielding her again from the Gandey seat in the Giridih district, which has a large population of both tribals and Muslims.

She has been pitted against the BJP’s Muniya Devi, a little-known grassroots leader who is new to mainstream politics. Ms. Devi, who hails from the Kushwaha community, was elected as a District Council member from the eastern part of Jamua in 2011, and later became the president of the Council. However, this will be her first time contesting an Assembly election. She only joined the BJP in 2023, in the presence of party president J.P. Nadda during a programme in Giridih.

Ms. Kalpana Soren’s campaign is highlighting her work in the constituency since she was elected in the bypoll as a taste of better things to come. “I promise to my beloved people of Gandey Assembly that whatever work I have done in these five months with your blessings was an effort to fulfil the basic needs that this area has been demanding for years. This is my promise to you that in the next term, when I get full time, I will fulfill our resolve to establish Gandey as the most prominent and developed Assembly constituency of Jharkhand. This is my promise to take your expectations to new heights,” the JMM leader said during a recent public meeting.

BJP candidate Ms. Devi, however, said that any development in Gandey has remained on paper only. “Those who are beating the drum of development should tell whether the work is done just by laying the foundation stone? People are not getting pure drinking water in every village of Gandey. Many poor women are deprived of housing and corruption is rampant at the block and panchayat level. She is only telling lies to the people,” she said, alleging that while Ms. Kalpana Soren has laid many foundation stones, work has not begun on even a single project.

In January 2024, Gandey’s sitting MLA, Sarfaraz Ahmed of the JMM, had vacated the seat to provide a safe debut for Ms. Kalpana Soren. The party duly rewarded his loyalty by giving Mr. Ahmed a Rajya Sabha ticket. When the bypoll was held on May 20, Ms. Kalpana Soren tasted her first victory by defeating the BJP candidate Dilip Kumar Verma with a margin of 26,483 votes.

The JMM has won the Gandey seat six times in the 11 elections that have taken place since 1977, with the BJP and Congress each snagging the seat twice, and the Janata Party claiming a sole victory. Muslims and Adivasis make up 40% of the electorate in Gandey, and winning both vote banks can be the foundation of victory for any candidate. The track record so far shows that the tribals have largely stuck to the JMM, while the Muslims support whichever candidate can ensure the defeat of the BJP.