Big issues that decided the Jharkhand outcome

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance on Saturday retained its hold over the state, bucking the trend of voting out the incumbent, buoyed by a campaign that banked heavily on tribal identity and welfare schemes.

The alliance of JMM, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) won 56 of the state’s 81 seats, improving on its tally of 47 from five years ago. The JMM won 34 of the 43 constituencies it contested.

The party swept through all divisions except North Chotanagpur — Kolhan, Santhal Pargana, South Chotanagpur, and Palamu — while securing two third majority in the 81-seat Assembly. Three of these, dominated by a tribal population, held sway in the elections.

In Kolhan, a region dominated by tribals, the Bharatiya Janata Party banked heavily on three former chief ministers — Champai Soren, Arjun Munda and Madhua Koda — to win the 14 seats. While Champai won his own constituency of Saraikela, his presence did not leave a mark on of the other seats (nine are reserved for ST and one for SC).

JMM, which premised its campaign on the BJP putting the son of an “Adivasi” — Hemant — behind the bars, won seven seats, while its ally, the Congress emerged victor on one.

In Santhal Pargana, another region dominated by tribals and holding a major chunk of the state’s seats with 18, CM Hemant and his brother Basant won the seats the Barhait and Dhumka seats, respectively. Sita Soren, the eldest daughter-in-law of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, unsuccessfully contested from Jamtara with a BJP ticket.

The JMM-led INDIA bloc, in fact, improved its tally to 17 out of 18 seats in the region from its 2019 tally of 14.

A similar story played out in South Chotanagpur, where 11 of the 15 seats in the regions are reserved for STs. The JMM-led alliance swept through the region, winning 13, while BJP only managed the remaining two — Ranchi and Hatia.

The BJP, analysts said, may have paid the price of relying on its allegations of the JMM letting Bangladeshi infiltrators replacing the state’s tribal population and overestimating its ally AJSU.

“The infiltration issue and absence of CM face also seems to have boomeranged,” Rakesh Kumar, a political analyst from Adityapur, said.