Ranchi: As many as 24 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand are set to witness a repeat electoral battle of the candidates who faced off against each other five years ago. Of them, many have switched political parties this time and so have their opponents.
In Ranchi, which goes to vote on November 13, the contest is primarily between BJP’s C P Singh and JMM’s Mahua Maji. Singh and Maji faced off against each other in 2019 and 2014. In both instances, Singh emerged victorious. Likewise in Hatia, BJP’s Navin Jaiswal will fight for the second consecutive time against Congress’s Ajay Nath Shahdeo.
Similar contests have been lined up in other assembly segments as well. In Bokaro’s Chandankyari (SC) seat, BJP’s Amar Kumar Bauri will face JMM’s Uma Kant Rajak. In 2019, Rajak contested for the seat on an Ajsu-P ticket. In Dhanwar, Babulal Marandi will face off against CPI-ML-L’s Raj Kumar Yadav. In 2019, Marandi won the seat on a JVM-P ticket.
Ramgarh, which has women as key contestants, will see Congress candidate Mamta Devi, who lost her membership after being convicted in a criminal case in 2022, fighting against Ajsu-P’s Sunita Choudhary once again. In 2019, Choudhary lost. In Nirsa, BJP’s Aparna Sengupta will contest against her 2019 opponent Arup Chatterjee, who is poised to challenge on a CPI-ML ticket after the merger of his party MCC.
Barhi’s outgoing Congress MLA Uma Shankar Akela switched to Samajwadi Party to set up a contest with BJP’s Manoj Yadav in a repeat of 2019.
Similarly, outgoing finance minister Rameshwar Oraon will face Ajsu-P’s Niru Shanti Bhagat once again in the Lohardaga (ST) assembly segment.
BJP’s outgoing Jamua (SC) candidate Kedar Hazra is contesting on a JMM ticket this year. But his opponent, Manju Kumari, remains the same. However, Manju, who fought on a Congress ticket in 2019, switched to BJP. In Mandu, Congress candidate J P Patel will fight Ajsu-P’s Nirmal Mahto. In 2019, Patel won on a BJP ticket.
In Dhanbad, it is a “battle of bahus” once again as Congress’s Purnima Niraj Singh faces off with BJP’s Ragini Singh in a rematch of 2019. Purnima and Ragini hail from Ramadhir Singh’s family.
“Candidates are selected on their winnability factors and their performances in the previous elections. The perception that there is a dearth of candidates is wrong,” BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said.