The fate of two former chief ministers, a Union Minister of State and a former Union Minister will be locked in Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), as the State goes for second phase (country fifth phase) of polling on Monday. Bigwigs whose future will be decided includes, State first chief minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate Babulal Marandi from Koderma, former chief minister and BJP tribal face Arjun Munda contesting election from Khunti.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha is trying his luck for second consecutive term from Hazaribag, another former union minister Subodh Kant Sahay is in electoral fray from Ranchi seat. Leaving aside Khunti, all three seats—Ranchi, Koderma and Hazaribag is likely to witness triangular contest as apart from BJP and Mahagathbandhan, Left parties candidate and an independent can become spoiler for both BJP and Mahagathbandhan. In Khunti, there is direct fight between BJP Arjun Munda and Congress candidate supported by Mahagathbandhan partners Kalicharan Munda.
Sources said that out of these four seats, battle for Koderma is much interesting. In Koderma, the fight is between Marandi, Annapurna Devi the RJD state president who joined Saffron brigade on March. CPI (ML) candidate and party MLA from Dharwar Raj Kumar Yadav can be surprise element as the area has remained Left bastion. The BJP this time has replaced its sitting MP Ravindra Kumar Rai giving ticket to Annapurna Devi. Sources said that Koderma is matter of pride for all three candidates, as Marandi had represented the seat thrice, while in 2014 general elections CPI (ML) candidate Raj Kumar Yadav was in second position securing around 2.66 lakh votes.
After Koderma, political pundits all eyes on Ranchi seat. Ranchi parliamentary seat spread in five assembly segments has remained traditionally BJP bastion, with Ranchi sitting MP Ram Tahal Choudhary winning the seat for five terms. However, this time Choudhary is contesting the election as Independent candidate after he was denied ticket by BJP citing age criteria. The BJP has fielded senior party leader Sanjay Seth, but he had never contested any assembly or Lok Sabha election against Congress heavy weight from State, Subodh Kant Sahay. Sahay has won the Ranchi Lok Sabha seat thrice and knows the political arithmetic of the Ranchi seat.
Sources said that as BJP has fielded Seth from Ranchi, the State BJP is working hard for smooth sailing of Seth from seat. On April 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a road show in Ranchi soliciting support for BJP candidate.
In Khunti, the main fight is between Arjun Munda and Congress candidate Kalicharan Munda. The Khunti seat too has remained as BJP bastion for years with BJP sitting MP Kariya Munda representing the seat for eight times. However, this time Arjun Munda has replaced Kariya due to age barrier set by BJP high command.
Sources said that the tug-of-war between BJP and Congress is not easy in Khunti as JVM (P), JMM and RJD are supporting Congress candidate. Also, the support of Christian Missionaries operating in Khunti supporting Kalicharan has made the contest tough.
The battle in Hazaribag is easy for BJP as there is direct fight between Jayant Sinha and Congress Gopal Sahu. The support of rebel JMM MLA from Mandu Jai Prakash Bhai Patel has made the contest much easier for BJP in the seat. However, CPI candidate and two times MP from Hazaribag, Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta too in an electoral ring.