Second phase of Jharkhand elections: Big fight between Raghubar Das and Saryu Rai

Twenty assembly constituencies will go to the polls in Jharkhand in the second phase of elections on December 7. The contest to watch out for will be between Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das and his former cabinet colleague Saryu Rai, who is contesting as an independent candidate from Jamshedpur East assembly constituency.

Rai, who was earlier with the BJP,  decided to contest the election against the Jharkhand CM when Raghubar Das ensured that Rai is denied a BJP ticket from Jamshedpur west. Saryu Rai as a cabinet minister in Raghubar Das. Cabinet was critical of the functioning Raghubar Das as CM and even alleged that Das was involved in corrupt practices.

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Saryu Rai said that, "I m confident of my victory and the people of Jamshedpur East are with me."

On the other hand, Raghubar Das who has represented Jamshedpur East 5 times in the past is confident of his work for the work he has done in his constituency. After the Prime Minister's rally, Das is even more confident, but it seems Saryu Rai is giving him a tough fight.

Assembly election details

The 20 constituencies going to the polls are spread across 7 districts. The important candidates contesting in this phase apart from Raghubar Das and Saryu Rai are; speaker of Vidhan Sabha Dinesh Oraon, BJP State President Laxman Giluwa, Water Resources Minister and AJSU candidate Ramchandra Sahis, and former Jharkhand Home Secretary J B Tubid.

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Voting shall take place between 7 am to 3 pm in 18 constituencies keeping in mind the Naxal threat, apart from Jamshedpur East and West constituency where voting will take place till 5 pm. Out of the 20 seats both JMM and BJP has 8 sitting seats. The 5 phase Jharkhand polls will culminate on December 23, with the counting of votes.

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