BJP-AJSU alliance wins 11 out of 14 seats in Jharkhand

The BJP-AJSU alliance in Jharkhand won 11 of the 14 seats in the state, while the opposition JMM and the Congress secured one seat each, with the result of the Khunti (ST) Lok Sabha constituency yet to be announced. Former chief minister and BJP candidate Arjun Munda is leading his nearest rival, Congress candidate Kalicharan Munda, by a narrow 1,445 votes from the Khunti seat, EC sources said.

While the BJP won 10 seats, its ally AJSU party won the lone Giridih seat, where its candidate and Jharkhand Water Resources Minister Chandraprakash Choudhary beat JMM’s Jagarnath Mahato by 2,48,347 votes.

The BJP and AJSU party fought the elections in alliance for the first time.

JMM sitting MP Vijay Kumar Hansda beat BJP’s Hemlal Murmu by 99,195 votes to retain the Rajmahal (ST) seat, officials said.

Congress nominee and wife of former chief minister Madhu Koda, Gita Koda defeated sitting BJP candidate Laxman Gilua by 72,155 votes in the Singhbhum (ST) seat.

In Ranchi, BJP’s Sanjay Seth defeated former Union minister and Congress candidate Subodh Kant Sahay by 2,83,026 votes.

In the Godda Lok Sabha seat, sitting BJP MP Nishikant Dubey defeated Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate Pradip Yadav by 1,84,227 votes.

Sitting BJP MP Bidyut Baran Mahato defeated JMM’s Champai Soren in the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat by 3,02,090 votes.

Union minister and BJP candidate Jayant Sinha won by a massive margin of 4,78,209 votes to retain the Hazaribagh seat, defeating Congress’ Gopal Prasad Sahu.

JMM president Shibu Soren lost the Dumka (ST) seat to BJP’s Sunil Soren by 47,590 votes. The former chief minister had won the seat eight times.

In the Palamau (SC) parliamentary constituency, BJP’s sitting MP and former Jharkhand Police chief Vishnu Dayal Ram beat his nearest rival, RJD candidate Ghuran Ram, by a massive margin of 4,75,284 votes.

BJP’s Annapurna Devi defeated former chief minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate Babulal Marandi by 4,55,600 votes in the Koderma Lok Sabha seat.

Annapurna Devi, a former minister in the UPA government in the state and ex-RJD president, had joined the BJP weeks before the Lok Sabha elections.

Sitting BJP MP Sunil Kumar Singh trounced Congress candidate Manoj Kumar Yadav by 3,77,871 votes to retain the Chatra seat.   

Union Minister and BJP candidate Sudarshan Bhagat defeated his Congress rival Sukhdeo Bhagat by 10,363 votes to retain the Lohardaga (ST) seat.

In the Dhanbad seat, Congress’ Kirti Azad lost to sitting BJP MP Pashupati Nath Singh by 4,86,194 votes.

Azad was a BJP MP from Darbhanga in neighbouring Bihar in 2014 before joining the Congress and getting a ticket from Dhanbad as per the pre-poll seat sharing pact among the Mahagathbandhan allies—Congress, JMM, RJD and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik).

The BJP had won 12 of the 14 seats and the JMM won two in 2014.