Stalemate over seat-sharing among Jharkhand Mahagathbandhan parties

The Mahagathbandhan in Jharkhand is facing the heat over seat-sharing for the 5 phase Jharkhand assembly polls, slated to begin on November 30. The nomination for the first phase has begun from Wednesday, will continue till November 13. But yet there is no clarity among the JMM, Congress, RJD, and JVM on the issue of seat-sharing. JMM leader Hemant Soren returned to Ranchi after a two-day visit to Delhi. He tried meeting Rahul and Sonia Gandhi for clarity on seat-sharing but in vain.

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Hemant Soren said, "By tomorrow, picture will be clear. We are in talks with Congress, RJD for seat-sharing. I have sought time from former Jharkhand CM  Babulal Marandi for a meeting. We have to forge a strong alliance to defeat BJP. JVM will not contest less than 42 seats out of 81. By November 8, we will announce our first list. We will raise the issue of economic slowdown, job loss, and soaring onion prices in elections. Leader of the Mahagathbandhan for elections will also be declared soon."

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'Our working committee will decide'

JVM chief Babulal Marandi has declared that his party will contest on all 81 seats and will not be a part of Mahagathbandhan. Even though efforts are being made to placate him to return back to Mahagathbandhan fold, as his party fought the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Mahgathbandhan parties. Sources say that the Congress party is demanding 30-35 seats. But the JMM is not willing to concede more than 25-27 seats for Congress. Congress party Jharkhand in-charge RPN Singh said, "We are in talks with our alliance partners and together, we will find a solution for the betterment of Jharkhand. Soon, our working committee will decide."

Read: Jharkhand Assembly Polls: JD(U) To Contest Alone On 81 Seats

JMM's reminder to the Congress

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had contested 7 seats, JMM 4 seats, JVM 2, and RJD 1 seat out of 14 seats. It was agreed upon that in the Vidhan Sabha elections, JMM would contest more seats than the Congress party and Hemant Soren of JMM would be the CM face. Now, the JMM is reminding the Congress party to fulfill that promise. In the last assembly elections held in 2014, BJP had won 37 seats, AJSU 4, JMM 19, Congress 9, JVM 8, and others 4 seats out of 81 seats. 6 MLAs of JVM had switched sides and joined the BJP after the Vidhan Sabha elections.

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