The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday released a comprehensive list of 66 candidates for Assembly elections 2024 in the State. Out of the 26 sitting MLAs, 22 have retained their candidature for their respective seats, while four have been denied ticket from the saffron party.

Interestingly, the list contains names of former CM and former Union Minister Arjun Munda’s wife Mira Munda for Potka constituency, former CM and incumbent Odisha Governor Raghubar Das’ daughter in law Purnima Lalit Das from Jamshedpur West constituency and former CM Champai Soren’s son Babulal Soren from Ghatshila constituency.

The party has kept names for two constituencies on hold – Barhet and Tundi. Sources said that former Minister Louis Marandi was named to contest against Hemant Soren from Barhet seat, but sensing defeat she was unwilling to contest the polls from the seat.

Hemant Soren had contested from two seats Dumka and Barhet in the 2019 elections and won both the seats. This time Sunil Soren has been named for Dumka seat, while the announcement for Barhet seat has been kept on hold.

Apart from this some of the prominent names in the BJP’s list include former Minister CP Singh (Ranchi), Navin Jaiswal (Hatia), Jeetu Charan Ram (Kanke), former Union Minister Sudarshan Bhagat (Gumla), former IPS office Arun Oraon (Sisai), Sunny Toppo (Mandar), Bhanu Pratap Shahi (Bhawnathpur).

State BJP president Babulal Marandi has been made the candidate from Rajdhanwar, while Sita Soren will contest from Jamtara. Four candidates, who lost the Lok Sabha elections have also been given tickets. Apart from Sita Soren and Sudarshan Bhagat, Sameer Oraon has been given the assembly ticket from Bishunpur and Geeta Koda has been given the ticket from Jagannathpur.

Former Chief Minister Champai Soren will contest from Saraikela, while former National President of ABVP and former President of Jharkhand BJP Dineshanand Goswami was given ticket from Baharagora.

Manju Devi has been made the candidate from Jamua, Tara Devi from Sindri, Ujjwal Kumar Das from Simaria, Raj Sinha from Dhanbad, Anant Ojha from Rajmahal, Lobin Hembrom from Borio, Biranchi Narayan from Bokaro, Amar Kumar Bauri from Chandankiyari, Tara Devi from Sindri, Aparna Sengupta from Nirsa and Ragini Singh from Jharia.

In the Palamu and Garhwa area Harekrishna Singh has been made candidate from Manika, Prakash Ram from Latehar, Sahsibhushan Mehta from Panki, Alok Chaurasiya from Daltonganj, Ramchandra Chandravanshi from Bishrampur, Pushpa Devi Bhuiyan from Chhaterpur, Kamlesh Singh from Hussianabad and Satyendra Tiwari from Garhwa.