Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Champai Soren has won on his home turf Seraikella against Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate Ganesh Mahali.
According to the Election Commission, Soren secured 1,19,379 votes, while Mahali bagged 98,932, leading the BJP candidate to win with a margin of 20,447 seats.
His victory came after trailing behind in the seat after the first round of counting in the Seraikella Assembly constituency.
Once a close confidant of the Jharkhand's veteran leader Shibu Soren, Champai Soren had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after quitting the ruling JMM. He has held the Seraikella Assembly seat since Jharkhand's first assembly polls in 2005.
Following Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's arrest in January this year, Champai Soren stepped in his shoes and held the post for five months. However, towards the end of his tenure, a controversy started as he quit the JMM, alleging humiliation and accusing the Hemant Soren's party of straying from its core principles such as working for the tribals.
Champai Soren joined the BJP shortly after this storm, and was up against JMM candidate Ganesh Mahali, who is a BJP turncoat. Despite BJP's failure to wrest Jharkhand from the ruling JMM-led alliance, Champai Soren has managed to retain his stronghold once again, adding to the four consecutive wins he had secured in the past on a JMM ticket.
On BJP's defeat in the Jharkhand polls, Champai Soren had remarked that the party accepts and respects the people's mandate that has come in the state.
The Jharkhand Assembly elections were held in two phases on November 13 and 20, for all 81 assembly seats. The BJP had fielded 68 candidates, while its allies AJSU Party, JD(U), and Lok Janshakti (Ram Vilas) has fielded candidates 10, two, and one seats respectively.
JMM, on the other hand, had fielded candidates in 43 seats, while Congress and RJD fielded candidates in 30 and six seats, respectively.