Jamshedpur: Ghatshila (ST) assembly constituency is poised for an interesting battle of ballots as the sitting MLA and minister, Ramdas Soren, of JMM is contesting to retain the seat. Meanwhile, greenhorn Babulal Soren, son of ex-CM Champai Soren, is seeking votes in the name of PM Narendra Modi to open BJP's account for the second term.
The two-term MLA, Ramdas, 61, is in the fray from Ghatsila for the fourth time in a row. Exuding confidence in winning the seat for the third term, Ramdas is urging the people to vote for him to help complete the development projects he initiated in the constituency as MLA, besides as a minister for the past four months. The advantage for the JMM leader is that there's no Congress candidate in the race.
With JMM contesting the polls in alliance with Congress, RJD, and CPI (ML), the INDIA bloc candidate, Ramdas, is confident that the 30,000-plus pocket votes of the grand old party will help him sail through without much trouble. Further, to cement the alliance, the INDIA group formed a steering committee in the constituency.
The Congress senior leader, Pradeep Balmuchu, a three-term MLA from Ghatsila and ex-Rajya Sabha member, said that the steering committee will take on board leaders of all the alliance parties so that the bloc fights the polls cohesively. Further, JMM is putting strong effort into building an impression that Hemant Soren is returning to power and it is wise for the voters to elect the alliance candidate.
On the other hand, BJP candidate Babulal, 40, has been active in the constituency doing social activities for a couple of years. He is impressing upon the voters that a wave of change is blowing across the state and that the BJP-led NDA govt under the able leadership of Narendra Modi is on the way to take the reins of power after the polls. The advantage for Babulal is that AJSU, which has a moderate vote share in the constituency, is back in the NDA folder.
The weakness for Babulal is that there's supposed opposition to his candidature from some quarters of the party organisation in the constituency. The JMM defector, Champai, is toiling hard in the constituency to ensure the victory of his son.
Meanwhile, the issues that are on the table for the candidates are the longstanding demand for the creation of a new district comprising the seven blocks of the subdivision, besides irrigation facilities to the agricultural fields, a blood bank, and a professional university. The demand to open the closed copper mines of Kendadih and Rakha, besides the smelter plant in the copper town Musaboni and the speedy progress of the Dhalbhumgarh airport project, are other issues of the public.
Further, in the last 24 years, the JMM, with a stronghold in the rural areas, managed to increase its votes from the 35,000-40,000 bracket to 60,000, whereas the BJP was successful in garnering the popular votes from a low of 20,000 to a high of 55,000 in the last five state general elections. Incidentally, the BJP has never repeated a candidate in the past five elections, while JMM has fielded Ramdas for three consecutive elections since 2009.
The constituency, with 70% rural voters and 48% tribal voters, sees issues central to the ST community dominate every election.