Jharkhand assembly polls: JD(U) to contest alone on 81 seats

The Janata Dal (United), an NDA ally headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, reportedly reiterated on Friday after the dates of Jharkhand election was announced that it would go it alone in the upcoming assembly polls in the neighbouring state. The party's Jharkhand unit chief Salkhan Murmu had earlier made the announcement reportedly after deliberations with party's national vice president and poll strategist Prashant Kishor. "We are looking forward to contesting as many seats as possible, depending on the number of winnable candidates we get. We are not averse to contesting all 81 seats in the state if we get as many good candidates, Murmu had said."

READ: Cong MP writes letter to Sonia Gandhi, says 'can form govt with Sena'

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced the assembly polls date for Jharkhand. Addressing a press briefing, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora said that voting to 81-seats of Jharkhand Assembly will be held in five phases. The first phase will begin on November 30 and the counting will take place on December 23. The tenure of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly ending on December 27.

READ: Jharkhand election dates out; here's a recap of what happened in 2014

Here's the election schedule:

• Phase 1: November 30, 2019
   
• Phase 2: December 7, 2019
   
• Phase 3: December 12, 2019
   
• Phase 4: December 16, 2019 
   
• Phase 5: December 20, 2019
•  
• Date of counting: December 23, 2019

READ: Here's how many seats the BJP is targeting in the Jharkhand elections

BJP ruled Jharkhand 

The BJP currently rules the state in an alliance with the All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU). The saffron alliance rules the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Raghubar Das. In 2014 assembly polls, BJP won 37 seats in the 81-member house. Its ally, the AJSU, won 5, taking the NDA past the majority mark. The BJP's dominant performance also saw it reduce the Congress to just six seats. In the Lok Sabha polls concluded in May, BJP won 12 of 14 parliamentary seats. While the Congress and the JMM have announced a tie-up for the upcoming polls, they are yet to finalise seat-sharing.

READ: Shiv Sena attacks BJP for hinting at President's rule in Maharashtra