‘My defeat, not of BJP’: Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Jharkhand leads

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das has taken full responsibility for the party’s defeat in the Assembly elections in the state. The trends during the counting of votes showed the alliance led by Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in the decisive lead.

“It is my defeat, not of BJP,” Das said on Monday.

Follow Jharkhand election results live updates here.

Home Minister Amit Shah thanked the people of Jharkhand. “We respect the mandate given by the people of Jharkhand. The people of the state gave us a chance to serve them for five years, and we thank them for that. We remain committed to the development of the state. I thank all the workers of BJP for the hardwork they put,” Shah said on Twitter in Hindi. 

As trends showed JMM-led alliance is heading towards victory, Das had earlier said he will wait for the final results to come in and said that BJP will accept the mandate.

“I am hopeful that the result will be in our favour. I am waiting for the final results. BJP will accept the people’s mandate,” he had said.

Das, who is the BJP candidate from Jamshedpur East seat, was trailing behind party rebel and independent candidate Saryu Rai by over 7,500 votes.

As per trends, the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance is crossed the halfway mark, and are leading on 44 seats. While JMM is ahead on 29 seats, Congress and RJD are leading on 14 and one seats, respectively.

The counting of votes for 81 Jharkhand Assembly seats began at 8 am on Monday in all the 24 district headquarters amid tight security.

The state went to polls in five phases from November 30 to December 20.