Lok Sabha Elections Results 2019: Only Congress winner in Jharkhand, Geeta Koda first woman MP from Singhbhum

With the comfortable victory of Congress candidate Geeta Koda, Singhbhum parliamentary constituency got its first woman Member of Parliament (MP) on Thursday. Geeta defeated Jharkhand BJP president Laxman Gilua by over 70,000 votes.

Despite having a higher female to male ratio, no female candidate had ever won from Singhbhum before Geeta.

Earlier, Geeta’s husband and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda had won the Singhbhum Lok Sabha seat in 2009. Geeta is presently an MLA from Jagannathpur. She got over 4.29 lakh votes, compared to Gilua’s 3.57 lakh votes.

Singhbhum has 4,74,710 female voters against 4,68,724 male voters. The number of women voters are more in Chaibasa, Manjhgaon and Manoharpur assembly segments of Singhbhum, from where Geeta received more votes than Gilua.

Laxman Gilua’s fate of not getting elected to a House (assembly or Lok Sabha) for successive terms continued in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well. Earlier, Gilua was elected twice to the state assembly (1995 and 2009) and Lok Sabha (1999 and 2004), but with a break. By losing his seat in this election, he failed to break former Singhbhum MP Bagun Sumbrui’s record of winning the seat for two continuous terms.

Also Read | NDA routs Grand Alliance in Bihar by 39:1, in Jarkhand by 12:2

Geeta’s popularity among the locals ensured her victory. With this victory, Singhbhum also upheld the tradition of changing its MP every Lok Sabha election for the last three decades.

Speaking about the victory, Geeta Koda attributed it to voters. “People wanted change in Singhbhum. With the help of women voters and the dedicated spirit of Mahagathbandhan leaders in Singhbhum, we won the seat. Gilua had stopped meeting public grievances, hence people voted against him,” she said.

Senior Congress leader cum Geeta Koda’s husband Madhu Koda said that it would be difficult for Congress to ensure development in Singhbhum as the BJP government would be a big hurdle.

“However, Geeta would do her best to work towards Singhbhum’s progress and prosperity, with special focus on employment and protecting tribal rights.”