Cong-JMM announce seat deal in Jharkhand, RJD 'disappointed'

Fissures surfaced among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners ahead of the Jharkhand assembly elections as the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Saturday expressed disappointment over the announcement of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress contesting 70 of 81 seats in the state.

The RJD said the decision on seat sharing by the two INDIA bloc constituents was 'unilateral'.

It also made it clear that 'all options were open' to the party.

Earlier on Saturday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the INDIA partners will contest the upcoming assembly polls together and the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha will field candidates in 70 of 81 seats.

Seat-sharing talks are on with alliance partners -- the RJD and the Left parties -- for the remaining 11 seats, he said.

The assembly polls for 81 seats will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20, and counting will take place on November 23.

"INDIA bloc will contest the Jharkhand assembly polls together. It has been decided during the seat-sharing talks with the allies that the Congress and the JMM will field candidates in 70 of 81 seats," Soren said after meeting with the alliance partners in Ranchi.

He said the decision was taken after consultations with allies and candidates would be announced soon.

Soren said the JMM-led alliance was confident of retaining power in the state on the back of its development work.

However, RJD spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha said, "We express our disappointment over the offer of seats to us. The decision is unilateral."

Jha claimed, "We were not consulted. All options are open to us."

He said that the RJD has identified 'at least 15 to 18 seats' in Jharkhand where it has the potential to defeat the BJP on its own.

Last time the party had contested seven seats and ended as runner-up in five of them.

Jha said several senior RJD leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, were in Ranchi and held a meeting this morning.

"A proper consultation process should have been done before declaring the seats...No political party can reject the sentiments of its voters and supporters...we have enough strength," he said.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the RJD won one seat. Its MLA Satyanand Bhokta is a minister in the Hemant Soren cabinet.

The JMM-led alliance had, in 2019, won 47 seats in the Jharkhand assembly, including 30 seats of JMM and 16 of the Congress.

The National Democratic Alliance on Friday announced its seat-sharing formula among its partners.

The Bharatiya Janata Party will contest 68 seats, the All Jharkhand Students' Union Party 10, the Janata Dal-United two and the Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas one.

Filing of nomination papers for 43 assembly constituencies of Jharkhand, which are going to polls on November 13 in the first phase, began on Friday and will continue till October 25.

In 2019, the JMM-led alliance won 47 seats in the Jharkhand assembly, including 30 of JMM and 16 of the Congress.

The BJP had secured 25 seats, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik three, the AJSU Party 2, the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist one, the Nationalist Congress Party one and independents two.

Currently, the strength of the assembly stands at 74, with the JMM-led ruling alliance having 44 members.

Two JMM legislators, Nalin Soren and Joba Majhi, are now members of Parliament, while Jama legislator Sita Soren resigned to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket.

Additionally, Borio MLA Lobin Hembrom was recently disqualified under the anti-defection law.

Similarly, the BJP's strength has decreased to 23, with two of its MLAsDhulu Mahto (Baghmara) and Manish Jaiswal (Hazaribag)now serving as MPs.

Mandu MLA Jaiprakash Bhai Patel, who joined Congress before the Lok Sabha elections, was also disqualified under the anti-defection law.

Altogether 2.60 crore electors, including 11.84 lakh first-time voters and 1.13 lakh persons with disabilities (PwD), third gender and senior citizens over 85 years of age, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the upcoming elections.

The assembly polls will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20 and counting will take place on November 23.