Campaigning for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections ended today (Thursday). Leaders of various political parties intensified the last-minute rallies. Voting will be held on June 1 in 57 parliamentary constituencies spread over seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
A total of 904 candidates are in the fray in this phase. Thirteen seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, 9 in West Bengal, 8 seats in Bihar, 6 in Odisha, 4 in Himachal Pradesh, 3 in Jharkhand, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh are going to the polls on June 1. Simultaneously, 42 assembly seats in Odisha will also go to the polls. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.
In the last phase of polling for the Lok Sabha election, all eyes have now shifted to Santhal region in Jharkhand where voting will take place for three parliamentary seats of Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be trying to retain its two parliamentary seats. The party had won Godda and Dumka seats in the 2019 general election whereas it lost the Rajmahal seat to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 12 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand but later the same year, BJP won just four Assembly seats out of 18 in Santhal Pargana in the State Assembly election.
BJP’s prestige is at stake as JMM founder Shibu Soren’s eldest daughter-in-law Sita Soren, who quit the party a month before the Lok Sabha election and joined the BJP, is contesting as the saffron party candidate from Dumka.
Nalin Soren, seven-time MLA of Sikaripara Assembly seat, is up against Sita Soren. The Dumka parliamentary seat is also important for the BJP because its State president Babulal Marandi has represented the constituency twice in 1998 and 1999. Winning Dumka has apparently become a matter of prestige for both the BJP and JMM, and the two parties have neither spared strength nor resources in their poll campaigns.
In Godda, sitting BJP MP Nishikant Dubey is locked in a direct contest against Congress candidate Pradeep Yadav. In the 2019 general election, Dubey got the lead in all six Assembly segments — Jarmundi, Madhupur, Deoghar, Poreyahat, Godda and Mahagama. In the previous Lok Sabha election, Yadav had contested the seat on a Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) ticket.
On the other hand, Rajmahal seat that is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) is presently occupied by JMM where the party has fielded sitting MP Vijay Hansda, who is up against BJP candidate Tala Marandi.
It has turned into a triangular contest after Lobin Hembrom, a rebel JMM MLA who represents Borio Assembly seat, jumped into the contest as an Independent candidate. Two more candidates on the seat have raised serious questions over the fate of JMM’s fortunes in the Rajmahal seat, which has six Assembly segments — Borio, Barhait, Litipara, Pakur, Maheshpur, and Rajmahal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a rally in Dumka, turning up the heat on the JMM-Congress combine. Sita Soren, Tala Marandi and Nishikant Dubey, BJP candidates from Rajmahal and Godda constituencies, respectively, were present at the event. The elections also came for the JMM at a critical time — following the arrest of former CM Hemant Soren, one of Shibu’s sons, in January. The JMM’s campaign in Dumka is being helmed by Shibu’s younger son Basant Soren and veteran leader Stephen Marandi.
