Out of 8 legislators in LS polls fray, two make it to parliament

Of the eight sitting legislators contested the Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand, only two including a cabinet minister in Raghubar Das government could make it to the parliament.

The Grand Alliance (GA), a group of four parties had fielded maximum six sitting legislators, while AJSU party, a BJP ally in the government, and CPI-ML fielded one legislator each.

Of the six, only Congress candidate Geeta Koda could win the Singhbhum seat. The Jagganathpur legislator, Koda, defeated BJP state president Laxman Gilua by a comfortable margin of 72,155 votes in the elections.

On the other hand, NDA candidate and AJSU’s Ramgarh legislator Chandra Prakash Choudhary, state’s water resources minister, won the Giridih seat by defeating JMM’s Dumri legislator Jagarnath Mahto by a margin of 2,48,347 votes. The Congress’ Lohardaga legislator, Sukhdeo Bhagat, lost to BJP’s Sudarshan Bhagat from Lohardaga Lok Sabha seat by 10,363 votes.

Similarly, Congress legislator from Barhi, Manoj Kumar Yadav, got defeated by BJP’s Sunil Kumar Singh by 3,77,871 votes.

JMM’s Saraikela legislator Champai Soren was defeated by BJP’s Bidyut Baran Mahto on Jamshedpur parliamentary seat by 3,02,090 votes, while JVM-P’s Poreyahat MLA Pradip Yadav lost to BJP’s Nishikant Dubey from Godda Lok Sabha seat by 1,84,227 votes.

CPI-ML’s Dhanwar legislator Rajkumar Yadav faced defeated from BJP’s Annapurna Devi by 4,55,600 votes on Koderma seat.

Jharkhand’s assembly strength to reduce to 79.

With two legislators winning the Lok Sabha elections, the 81-member Jharkhand assembly has reduced to 79. Re-election on these seats is unlikely, as Jharkhand will go to assembly polls in winter, said political observers.

One minister’s post from Raghubar Das cabinet will also go vacant, as water resource department minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary will have to resign from the post after being elected for Lok Sabha.

Jharkhand cabinet, which has a total strength of 12 cabinet members, is functioning with 11 ministers since Raghubar Das government came to power in December 2014. Now, the number of cabinet ministers will go down to 10.

Sources in the government said the minister’s post to be vacated by Choudhary would be filled very soon and most likely the post would again go to AJSU party.

However, BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said, “It is the chief minister’s call. He will take right call in right time.”