The Election Commission had virtually given a long rope to the BJP by holding the 2019 general elections in seven phases around the country (and four phases in Jharkhand), said Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president Hemant Soren on Monday.

“The election schedule is intriguing,” he said, pointing to the poll schedule in different states announced by the Election Commission on Sunday. “The elections are to be held in single phase polls in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala that have 39, 25, and 20 Lok Sabha seats, respectively; and in multiple phases in Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, and Tripura that have 14, 21, 14, and 2 seats, respectively,” he said. “The poll schedule has been prepared to give the prime minister and BJP’s star campaigner Narendra Modi time to campaign extensively,” said Hemant, who is the leader of the opposition in the Jharkhand assembly.

Also on Monday, he called on Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) chief and former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi to discuss how to contest the elections to defeat the BJP in as many seats as possible. The leaders said that the final shape of the state’s opposition alliance would take shape in a week.

Babulal said that the parties had agreed in principle to contest the polls unitedly, and the final lines would be drawn soon. He added that the Congress should make the announcement soon, clearing the air on which seats were to be contested by the respective parties.

It is learnt that the Congress has agreed to forego its claim on Godda and Jamshedpur and allot them to JVM(P) and JMM respectively. Godda has been the bone of contention between the Congress and JVM(P). The Congress wanted to field a minority candidate from the seat and the name of former MP Furqan Ansari was doing the rounds.

It was learnt that the Congress Working Committee will meet in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, which would be followed by the party’s election committee meeting and the final announcement of the seats around Holi.

Hemant ki Choupal on March 13

The JMM is likely to take an early lead on social media over its rival BJP by holding Hemant ki Choupal on March 13 from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm from his Twitter handle.

Twitter India has okayed the choupal from Hemant’s account, which is blue dot verified, said JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya on Monday, giving details of the choupal. He appealed to the people to participate in the interface with the leader on his Twitter handle.

The JMM had applied to the sub-divisional manager for the choupal, a Twitter initiative by Twitter India, said Bhattacharya, adding that Hemant had credible social media accounts. Bhattacharya said that Hemant had about 11,000 followers on his Twitter handle and more than 17,000 on Facebook.

First Published: Mar 12, 2019 15:14 IST