Ranchi: A total of 12 women candidates from various political parties were elected to the Jharkhand state assembly, bringing fresh faces to the forefront while some familiar names will be notably absent.
Among them, five Congress candidates including Nishat Alam from Pakur, Mamta Devi from Ramgarh, Deepika Pandey Singh from Mahagama, Shilpi Neha Tirkey from Mandar and Shwetta Singh from Bokaro are from Congress, three Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidates namely Kalpana Soren from Gandey, Sabita Mahto from Ichagarh and Lois Marandi from Jama and four BJP nominees including Purnima Sahu from Jamshedpur East, Majnu Kumari from Jamua, Ragini Singh from Jharia and Neera Yadav Koderma have won.
Among the winners, Purnima is daughter- in-law of Odisha governor Raghubar Das who would be in the state assembly for the first time. She said, "My father- in-law has worked for the Jamshedpur East constituency for over 30 years and it is now my chance to serve it."
Another elected MLA is Shwetta Singh. She said, "I have been making a list of people problems during campaigning. As an MLA, I would be able to raise the people's issues strongly."
Chief minister Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana has managed to retain the Gandey seat which she had won in a by-election this year. It may be stated here that Kalpana took the plunge into active politics after Hemant came under Enforcement Directorate lens in a land scam.
Among the candidates who have not made come back this elections is Baby Devi who lost from the Dumri assembly seat. She had become an MLA in 2023 mainly on sympathy votes when her husband and veteran politician Jagarnath Mahto passed away. The Jharkhand Loktantric Krantikari Morcha has, however, recorded strong presence here in the last Lok Sabha election and eventually its president Jairam Mahto defeated Devi in this election.
It may be stated here that Joba Majhi who was elected as an MP and BJP's Sita Soren, Congress Amba Prasad, BJP's Aparna Sen Gupta, Congress Purnima Neeraj Singh and Pushpa Devi would be absent in the new assembly.