Union Minister Arjun Munda, Congress turncoat Geeta Koda lead BJP charge in Jharkhand’s first phase of polling

Union Minister Arjun Munda contests Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand's first phase, with key battles in reserved constituencies.

Union Minister and three-time Chief Minister Arjun Munda is in the fray in the first phase of polling in Jharkhand, which is slated for May 13, with four Lok Sabha seats at stake: Palamu, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes; and Singhbhum, Lohardaga, and Khunti, which are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

Top leaders of both the National Democratic Alliance and the Opposition Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, have campaigned in these four constituencies, which are spread across 10 districts and 23 Assembly segments. Most of the contests are direct fights between the BJP’s nominees and the unity candidates put up by the parties of the INDIA bloc.

In Singhbhum, Congress MP-turned-BJP candidate Geeta Koda is up against the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Joba Manjhi. In Khunti, Mr. Arjun Munda is being challenged again by Kalicharan Munda of the Congress, who lost by a tiny margin last time. In Palamu, the BJP’s V.D. Ram is pitted against political debutant Mamta Bhuiya of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. In Lohardaga, the BJP’s Samir Oraon will take on Sukhdev Bhagat of the Congress, though a JMM rebel is hoping to play spoiler as well.

Lohardaga is likely to see a triangular fight as Bishunpur MLA Chamra Linda, who won the Assembly seat on a JMM ticket, has now jumped into the parliamentary fray as an independent candidate. In 2004, 2009 and 2014, Mr. Linda had unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate, though he secured over one lakh votes on his second and third tries.

In 2019, the BJP had fielded Sudharshan Bhagat from Lohardaga, but his margin of victory against the Congress’ Sukhdev Bhagat was just 10,363 votes, prompting the party to drop its sitting MP and name Mr. Oraon as its candidate instead.

Of the five Assembly segments in Lohardaga — Mandar, Sisai, Bishunpur, Gumla, and Lohardaga — all are currently represented by INDIA MLAs, with three from the JMM and two from the Congress.

Many interior Maoist-affected areas across the Singhbhum constituency will witness polling for the first time ever, or after a gap of many decades, as polling teams and materials will be air-dropped via helicopter to enable voters living in Saranda, Asia’s densest sal forest, to exercise their franchise.