Jharkhand Assembly Election: Cong-JMM alliance dials smaller parties for govt formation

Amid past-pace developments on counting day, the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance is in touch with smaller parties and independents to form the government in Jharkhand, as per sources. Sources further reveal that RPN Singh of the Congress has already reached out to JVM(P) leader Babulal Marandi. As per the Election Commission of India trends at 10.09 am, BJP is leading on 22 seats as compared to the opposition alliance which is ahead in 36 constituencies. Earlier in the day, Marandi had indicated that he was in touch with the leaders of all parties.  

Read: Jharkhand Assembly Poll Results: BJP Leads In Early Trends, Neck-to-neck Battle With JMM+

Speaking to Republic TV, Marandi said, "I keep talking to the leaders of other parties." He added, "Let the results come in, it (counting) has just started, we will know soon. After that, the party will sit together and make a decision.” 

Read: Jharkhand Elections: JVM(P)'s Babulal Marandi Hints At A Possible Alliance With BJP

Hemant Soren-the opposition's CM face

The Jharkhand Assembly elections has been conducted in 5 phases. While the polls commenced on November 30, the other phases of voting took place on December 7, 12, 16 and 20. The approximate voter turnout for all 81 assembly constituencies of Jharkhand was 65.17%. Hemant Soren of JMM is the Chief Ministerial face of this tie-up. On the other hand, BJP and its long-term ally All Jharkhand Student's Union (AJSU) have contested the elections separately. The incumbent CM Raghubar Das is the BJP’s candidate for the post again if it comes back to power. 

Read: Jharkhand Exit Polls: JMM-Cong Alliance Projected To Have An Edge Over Incumbent BJP

BJP's splendid performance in previous polls

In the 2014 assembly election, the BJP alliance had won 42 out of 81 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly elections. While the BJP emerged as the single-largest party winning 37 seats, its pre-poll ally AJSU won 5 seats helping it form the government. In 2015, 6 Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) MLAs joined BJP, resulting in the latter crossing the half-way mark on its own with 43 seats. Das became the first CM in the history of Jharkhand to complete a full term. The golden run for the ruling alliance continued in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls bagging 12 out of 14 seats. On the other hand, JMM and Congress secured one seat each. However, JMM leader and former CM Shibu Soren suffered a major setback as he failed to win the Dumka seat, which he had won 8 times in the past.  

Read: Jharkhand Assembly Results: Herculean Battle For BJP To Retain Power?