Jharkhand Elections 2024: JMM Likely to Contest On 43 Seats, RJD to Get 5, CPI 4 in Seat-Sharing Deal

With less than a month to the Jharkhand Assembly election 2024, the INDIA bloc parties in the state have likely reached a seat-sharing agreement. As per sources, of the total 81 seats in the Jharkhand, the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is likely to contest 43 seats, while the rest 38 seats will go it its allies-- including Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML).  "Congress will likely have to satisfy with four seats less than what it asked for with 29 seats, RJD may get 5 seats, CPI-ML may get 4 seats," said sources, adding that the final seat sharing agreement may be announced on Friday, October 18. They added that Congress leaders are likely to meet in Ranchi this afternoon before a possible meeting with the JMM leadership in the evening today. Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday appointed three party leaders as All India Congress Committee (AICC) Senior Coordinators for the upcoming two-phase Assembly elections in Jharkhand. In a statement, the Congress mentioned that party President Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed BK Hariprasad, Gaurav Gogoi and Mohan Markam as AICC Senior Coordinators for the Assembly polls in Jharkhand for which voting will be held on November 13 and November 20. The counting of votes will take place on November 23. Earlier on Monday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the JMM-led alliance will contest all 81 seats in the upcoming assembly elections. Speaking after a central committee meeting of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Soren expressed confidence in the party's electoral preparedness and assured that the alliance would regain power in the state. "I participated in the JMM central committee meeting today along with all other workers and executive committee members. We reviewed our election preparedness and we are confident of winning the assembly elections. The JMM-led alliance will contest all the 81 seats," Soren said after the meeting. He said, unlike the opposition BJP, the JMM-led alliance did not believe in making only announcements as it executed several welfare schemes. JMM legislator and Soren's wife Kalpana Soren said the alliance was confident of victory as it was voted to power in 2019 despite a double-engine government in the state. Jharkhand is going to the polls against the backdrop of Chief Minister Hemant Soren walking out of jail to retain his CM position again. Soren was jailed in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to a land scam matter. Hemant's (then) party colleague -- Champai Soren -- handled the Chief Ministerial responsibilities while the senior JMM leader was in prison. Champai, however, was made to step aside after Hemant walked out of jail. Displeased over the development, Champai left JMM and switched to the BJP. He quit the JMM on August 28 and joined the BJP two days later, on August 30.