RANCHI: After brainstorming in New Delhi on Wednesday, Opposition parties in Jharkhand have finally reached a consensus over seat-sharing formula. According to the deal, the Congress will contest on more seats in the Lok Sabha polls while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) will get “lion’s share” in the Assembly elections, said Congress in-charge for the state RPN Singh.

As per the formula, the Congress will contest from seven seats and the JMM from four. The JVM has been allocated two seats while the RJD got only one. Congress is likely to get Ranchi, Khunti, Lohardaga, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad while the JMM will field its candidates from Dumka, Rajmahal and Giridih. The JVM has got Koderma and Palamu and the RJD has got Chatra.

JMM executive chief Hemant Soren expressed satisfaction over the deal, but JVM chief Babulal Marandi has made it clear he would not settle for less than three seats.“We had already made it clear in the beginning that we wanted three seats — Godda, Koderma and Chatra,” said Marandi. If not given a respectable number of seats, the party would be free to contest independently, he warned. “It appears that the Congress is not serious about stopping the BJP from coming to power,” Marandi said.

No decision on 2 seats

No decision has been taken on two seats. Both Congress and JVM have staked claims to Godda seat while JMM and Congress are fighting over West Singhbhum