RANCHI: The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha released its first list of 35 candidates for the upcoming assembly polls on Wednesday, fielding Chief Minister Hemant Soren from Barhait and Kalpana Soren from Gandey segments. The assembly polls will be held in two phases — on November 13 and 20 — while the results will be declared on November 23.
Hemant Soren is the sitting MLA from Barhait (ST) constituency in Sahibganj district. He won the seat by 25,740 votes over his nearest BJP rival Simon Malto in the 2019 assembly elections. His wife Kalpana Soren had won the Gandey bypoll by 27,149 votes over her nearest BJP rival Dilip Kumar Verma. The seat had fallen vacant following the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad.
Of the 35 JMM nominees, Basant Soren, the incumbent chief minister’s brother, will contest from Dumka, Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindranath Mahto from Nala, Minister Mithilesh Thakur from Garhwa, Sonu Sudivya from Giridih and Bebi Devi from Dumri.
Basant defeated former BJP minister Lois Marandi by over 6,842 votes in party stronghold Dumka, the constituency vacated by his elder brother Hemant Soren after he won Dumka and Barahit in the December 2019 assembly elections and decided to retain the latter.
Assembly Speaker Mahto won Nala in Jamtara by a margin of 3,520 votes, defeating Satyanand Jha of the BJP in the last elections. Mahto had won the seat in 2005 and 2014 also.
The other candidates announced by the JMM include Dipak Birua from Chaibasa and Kedar Hazara, a three-term sitting MLA of BJP who joined the party recently, from Jamua.