Jairam Mahato’s JKLM shakes up Jharkhand poll with Dumri victory

The Jharkhand assembly poll results on Saturday solidified the image of 29-year-old Jairam Mahato, the founding president of the Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JKLM), as the newest star in the state politics and a prominent face of the OBC Kudmi community.

Mahato won from Dumri assembly seat in Giridih district, wresting the seat from the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which emerged as the largest party in the assembly polls. Popular among his supporters as “Tiger”, Mahato defeated JMM candidate and outgoing minister Bebi Devi by 10,945 votes, pushing AJSU Party’s Yashoda Devi to a distant third.

While Mahato’s party managed to win the solitary Dumri seat, JLKM candidates played spoiler for several nominees of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the AJSU Party, especially in the Kudmi-dominated Ramgarh-Bokaro-Dhanbad-Giridih belt. Mahato had fielded candidates in 71 of the 81 assembly seats in Jharkhand and the results showed that his party’s vote-share in about a dozen seats exceeded the defeat margin of NDA candidates.

The JLKM candidates, drawing support primarily from the Kudmi community — a dominant other backward classes (OBC) caste — made the contest triangular in several constituencies, even pushing the BJP and the AJSU Party, which has traditionally held sway over Kudmis, to third position, paving the way to the victory of JMM-led INDIA bloc candidates.

Mahato also contested from Bermo seat in Bokaro district in the assembly polls and emerged second, pushing BJP veteran and former five-term lawmaker from Giridih, Ravindra Pandey, to the third position, paving way for victory of Kumar Jaimangal of the Congress.

The rising Kudmi leader dealt the most significant blow to Sudesh Mahto, president of the AJSU Party, who lost from his pocket borough Silli to JMM’s Amit Kumar by 23,867 votes. JLKM’s Devendra Mahto, who came third, secured 41,725 votes.

In Ramgarh, Congress candidate Mamta Devi wrest the seat from the AJSU by defeating the latter’s Sunita Choudhary by 6,790 votes. JLKM’ Paneshwar Kumar polled 70,979 votes.

In Gomia, another seat held by the AJSU, Puja Kumari of the JLKM came second to JMM’s Yogendra Prasad, losing by nearly 36,000 votes. Outgoing AJSU legislator Lambodar Mahto came third.

The JLKM also hit the prospects of the BJP in Chandankiyari constituency, where JMM’s Uma Kant Rajak emerged as the winner. Rajak defeated JLKM’s Arjun Rajwar by 33,733 votes, pushing sitting BJP legislator and leader of opposition in the assembly Amar Kumar Bauri to third place.

In Bokaro, where BJP’s chief whip Biranchi Narayan lost by around 7,207 votes to Congress’ Shwettaa Singh, JLKM candidate Saroj Kumari secured around 39,621 votes.

Similarly, in Sindri, a seat held by the BJP, its candidate Tara Devi lost by 3,448 votes to CPI-ML’s Chandradeo Mahato, while JLKM’s Usha Devi secured 42,664 votes. In neighbouring Nirsa, where BJP’s sitting legislator Aparna Sengupta lost by 1,808 votes to CPI-ML’s Arup Chatterjee, JLKM’s Ashok Mondal garnered 16,316 votes at the third place.

The assembly poll results showed that JLKM chief Jairam Mahato has come a long way since emerging on the state’s political landscape earlier this year.