Congress released its first list for Jharkhand assembly elections late on Monday night. The first list contains names of 21 candidates.

Amidst rumours and speculations, Congress has given a ticket to Ajay Nath Shahdev from Hatia. Irfan Ansari from Jamtara, Mamta Devi from Ramgarh, Munna Singh from Hazaribagh, Dr Ajay Kumar from Jamshedpur East and Bhushan Bara from Simdega have been fielded. Apart from this, there are names of 15 candidates in the Congress list.

Congress candidates Ajay Nath Shahdev from Hatia, Irfan Ansari from Jamtara, Badal Patralekh from Jarmundi, Pradeep Yadav from Poraiyahat, Deepika Pandey Singh from Mahagama, Amba Prasad from Barkagaon, Mamta Devi from Ramgarh, Jai Prakash Patel from Mandu, Munna Singh from Hazaribagh, Kumar Jayamangal from Bermo, Purnima Neeraj Singh from Jharia, Jaleshwar Mahato from Baghmara, Dr Ajay Kumar from Jamshedpur (East), Banna Gupta from Jamshedpur (West), Sonaram Sinku from Jagannathpur (ST), Rajesh Kachhap from Khijri (ST), Shilpi Neha Tirkey from Mandar (ST), Bhushan Bada from Simdega (ST), Naman Vikas Kongadi from Kolebira (ST), Rameshwar Oraon from Lohardaga (ST) and Ramchandra Singh from Manika (ST)

BJP has already released its first list of 66 candidates. BJP has given ticket to former CM Champai Soren from Saraikela Vidhan Sabha seat. Champai Soren has left Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and joined BJP. Along with this, Babulal Marandi has been fielded from Dhanwar. BJP has given ticket to Sita Soren from Jamtara seat, Neera Yadav from Koderma, Munia Devi from Gandey, Tara Devi from Sindri, Aparna Sengupta from Nirsa, Ragini Singh from Jharia, Geeta Balmuchu from Chaibasa, Pushpa Devi Bhuiyan from Chhatarpur.

The Jharkhand election is special in many ways this time. On one hand, BJP is trying its best to win Jharkhand this time. On the other hand, the India alliance is also trying hard to remain in power. Amidst the election fray, JMM played a big bet late on Monday night. Hemant Soren got six veteran BJP leaders included in his party. These include BJP's potential candidate against Hemant Soren from Barehat assembly seat, Louis Marandi, former Ghatsila MLA Laxman Tudu, former Baharagora MLA Kunal Sarangi, former BJP candidate from Saraikela seat Ganesh Mahali, East Singhbhum BJP district president Bari Murmu and BJP leader Basco Besra. BJP wanted to field Louis Marandi from Hemant Soren's Barehat seat. But she wanted to contest from Dumka seat, from where BJP has fielded Sunil Soren. In such a situation, she joined JMM.

Voting will be held in two phases in 81 assembly constituencies of Jharkhand. The first phase will be held on November 13, in which voting will take place on 43 seats. The second phase is on November 20, in which voting will take place on 38 seats. After this, counting of votes will take place on November 23. According to the Election Commission, the total number of voters in Jharkhand is 2,55,18,642, of which 1,29,97,325 are male voters and 1,25,20,910 are female voters.