In a bid to strengthen its hold in tribal-dominated Santhal Paragana area the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has intensified its campaigns for the penultimate and final phase of polls in the State.

Santhal Pargana has been a JMM stronghold since the days of unified Bihar. The party won 7 seats in 2014 State Assembly Elections out of total 18 seats in the region despite the Modi wave that swept the rest of the country. JMM had won 10 of 18 seats in 2009 State Assembly elections here.

Santhal Pargana will go to polls in the fourth and fifth phases of election slated on December 16 and December 20. JMM Supremo, Shibu Soren and his son JMM Executive president and former Chief Minister, Hemant Soren are extensively campaigning for the party candidates in the region to reclaim their throne from the saffron brigade.

Addressing an election rally at Pakur for Indian National Congress (INC) candidate Alamgir Alam – the sitting MLA from the seat—senior Soren said that people are perturbed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government; be it at the Centre or in the State. He addressed the rally in Santhali language. He appealed to the people to vote for the INC candidate to make Hemant Soren the Chief Minister of the State.

JMM is contesting the State Assembly elections in alliance with INC and former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).  Under the seat sharing pact with the alliance partners, JMM is contesting 43 seats, INC got 31 seats and RJD is contesting 7 seats.

On Sunday, junior Soren addressed five election rallies. Addressing an election rally at Poraiyahat seat for JMM candidate Ashok Kumar, the former Chief Minister said that in the last five years a large number of youths of the State have become unemployed due to misrule of the incumbent State Government as in last five years the Government has not been able to conduct Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) exams. “There are huge vacancies in all departments of the State Government but the Government did not try to fill them. The youths of the State are forced to migrate to other states for their livelihood,” he added.    

He also addressed an election rally in Dumka, where he is the candidate of JMM. Soren is also contesting from Barhait seat. Soren had won the Dumka seat in 2009. However, in 2014 he had contested from Dumka and Barhait Assembly seats and represented the fourth assembly from Barhait after losing to minister Louis Marandi in Dumka, which has been a traditional seat for the party, represented by Stephen Marandi several times in the past.

The JMM put up a brave fight as it gained a seat over its 2009 performance. However, it failed to keep all its seats in Santhal Pargana, losing four seats from its 2009 tally of 10. BJP used Modi’s charisma to snatch three seats from JMM’s share in the tribal belt, taking its tally to seven of the 18 seats.

JMM managed to retain only Barhait, Littipara, Maheshpur, Shikaripara, Nala and Jama in the tribal belt.