Jharkhand Assembly Election Results: Among the personal prestige battles that played out in Jharkhand this year was the Sita Soren-vs-Irfan Ansari fight. Both seasoned politicians were vying for the Jamtara seat. The battle was important for Sita Soren as this was her first election without the Soren family's support.
Congress candidate Irfan Ansari has defeated his rival Sita Murmu of the BJP by a margin of 43,676 votes. While Ansari received 1,33,266 votes, Murmu managed to get 89,590 votes.
An experienced politician, Sita Soren switched to the BJP after Kalpana Soren's elevation in the JMM earlier this year. Sita Soren, the widow of Durga Soren and the sister-in-law of Hemant Soren, had been seeking Shibu Soren's backing for a long time to be elevated in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. However, with Hemant throwing his weight behind his wife Kalpana that seemed far-fetched. So she quit and joined the BJP.
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For Congress's Irfan Ansari, a Cabinet minister in Jharkhand, the fight is important to protect his father's legacy in his bastion — Jamtara. Irfan's father Furqan Ansari held the seat for four terms before Jamtara became part of Jharkhand.
The Jamtara seat is part of the Jamtara district. It went to polls in the second phase of the Jharkhand Assembly elections on November 20 and recorded a turnout of 75.38%.
The Jharkhand assembly elections were held in two phases on November 13 and 20. Overall, Jharkhand recorded a turnout of 68.95%, which was higher than that of Maharashtra's 66.05%.
The Jharkhand elections saw one of the fiercest campaigns, the recipe of which had nearly everything we can expect in a poll campaign in India. The campaign saw political slugfests over claims of corruption, Bangladeshi infiltration, ouster of Hindus, change in demographics, non-release of funds, announcement of 'populist schemes', and a lot more.
The Jharkhand elections were filled with political rhetoric. The alleged claim of Bangladeshi infiltration became a major poll plank for the first time in the state's electoral history. While the BJP's pre-poll campaigns featured around "roti, beti, and maati (livelihood, women, and land)", the INDIA bloc's attack focused on tribal issues, caste census, and reservation. A total of 1,211 candidates fought in the Jharkhand elections.
Under the political battles, there were several personal prestige battles being fought in Jharkhand this year, such as those of Sita Soren, Purnima Singh, Ragini Singh, Vikas Munda, Champai Soren, and Kalpana Soren, among others.