Jharkhand Assembly Elections: INDIA bloc seals seat-sharing deal; JMM gets 43, Congress 30

The INDIA bloc finalised its seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly polls on Saturday — with the Hemant Soren-led JMM set to contest 43 seats. The Congress will field candidates from 30 constituencies. The Rashtriya Janata Dal will contest six seats while the Left parties will contest three seats.

Bloc leaders have however indicated the possibility of a “friendly battle” in three Jharkhand constituencies. The JMM and CPI-ML have already opted for a clash in Dhanwar. Meanwhile the Congress and RJD are still working to avoid a similar face-off for the Chhattarpur and Bishrampur seats.

“JMM, Congress, RJD and CPI-ML are jointly contesting the Jharkhand polls under INDIA bloc. Seat-sharing arrangements have been settled for all the constituencies in the alliance — excluding –Chhatarpur, Bishrampur and Dhanwar. The JMM has decided to go for a friendly contest with CPI-ML in Dhanwar seat,” JMM general secretary Vinod Pandey told reporters on Saturday.

Both the RJD and Congress have fielded their candidates from Chhatarpur and Bishrampur seats. The seat sharing arrangement has not been officially declared and Pandey indicated that results were likely “in a day or two”.

Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20. Votes will be counted later this month on November 23.

(With inputs from agencies)