Dancing to Narendra Modi tune, Jharkhand voters on Friday ensured landslide victory for the BJP and completely shattered the dream of the two regional parties to make room for themselves ahead of the Assembly elections. The BJP bagged 13 out of the 14 seats in the State, matching the best performance of 1999 for the saffron brigade in Jharkhand region.
The JMM was the only party which could survive the ‘Modi Tsunami’ in Dumka, where party chief Shibu Soren won by a margin of over 39,000 amidst the BJP allegations against Deputy Commissioner Harsh Mangla of playing foul right from conducting the elections to the counting centre. The JMM’s other candidate Vijay Handa won by a slender margin in Raj Mahal.
This despite the fact that the Congress, RJD and JMM were fighting together and the two regional players-JVM and AJSU-had also joined the poll race in almost all the constituencies.
However, strong anti-incumbency wave sweeping across the State against the JMM-led Government and smart choice of candidates by the BJP gave the saffron brigade the advantage it was so desperately seeking to capitalise on in Jharkhand.
The Congress, with one sitting seat, faced its total rout this time, paying heavily for first supporting a corrupt and inefficient regime led by Independent Madhu Koda and again supporting Hemant government and thereafter arm-twisting it to agree to fight just 4 seats and leaving nine for itself and one for the RJD.
Congress lone sitting MP Subodh Kant Sahay lost elections to BJP’s Ram Tahal Chaudhary in Ranchi by a huge margin of 1.99 lakh.
Babulal Marandi and Sudesh Mahto, the two regional leaders, faced the complete rout earning demoralization for the party men ahead of the Assembly election in November. Not only they themselves lost, their candidates (except Ajoy Kumar in Jamshedpur) were nowhere in the reckoning. Both Marandi and Mahto were pushed to third position in Dumka and Ranchi respectively.
Though the BJP leadership had not taken risk in ticket distribution and re-nominated seven of the eight sitting MPs, the new candidates for other seven seats picked up at the suggestion of former Chief Minister Arjun Munda paid off well for the party.
Munda was said to be instrumental in picking up JMM MlA Vidyut Baran Mahto and fielding him against formidable JVM nominee Ajoy Kumar in Jamshedpur. likewise, laxman Gilua and
VD Ram were also handpicked by Munda. In Dumka also, Munda was said to be in favour for fielding party's national secretary louis Marandi instead of Sunil Soren.
Jharkhand had proved to be a face-saver for the NDA in 2009 with the BJP bouncing back to regain lost ground and bagging as many as eight of the 14 lok Sabha seats of the State. In the 2004 elections, the UPA had swept, winning 13 of the 14 seats.
Today, the BJP recorded decisive wins for Ram Tahal Chaudhary (Ranchi), Vidyut Baran Mahto (Jamshedpur), Karia Munda (Khunti), Nishikant Dubey (Godda), PN Singh (Dhanbad), laxman Gilua (Chaibasa), VD Ram (Palamau), Sunil Singh (Chatra) and Ravindra Pandey (Giridih).
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda said that while the results have shown people's immense faith in the leadership of Narendra Modi, it had also sent a message to the regional parties that their politics of blackmail has no place in democracy. “It was also a mandate against the JMM-Congress government in the State,” he added.
Munda maintained that he expected that the electorates will extend stronger support for the BJP in the Assembly elections to give a stable government in Jharkhand. Also, the voters have rejected the government formed by the Congress and JMM.
JMM core committee member Vinod Pandey said that we expected to perform better but the strong anti-incumbency against the Central Government proved to be counter-productive for us.
Congress state president Sukhdeo Bhagat, while accepting the defeat, said that the BJP romped home one the lines of AAP making tall claims. “So, the BJP will also meet the AAP fate if it failed to fulfill the promises,” he maintained.