The Latehar constituency is one of the 81 Assembly constituencies in the eastern state of Jharkhand, which is headed to the polls.
Like Maharashtra, Jharkhand heads to polls this time on the back of some political turmoil in the state, which saw Chief Minister Hemant Soren resign before staking claim to form a government again shortly ahead of the state elections.
Constituency details:
Constituency number 74, the Latehar seat in Jharkhand is located in the Latehar district. The seat is reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Polling and counting date:
Unlike the single-phase Assembly elections in Maharashtra, state polls in Jharkhand will be held in two phases, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced.
The Latehar constituency will go to polls on November 13, one of the two polling dates fixed by the ECI.
Counting of votes for all seats will be held on November 23, alongside vote counting for Maharashtra. Counting of votes for bypolls to 48 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats across 15 states will also take place on the same day.
Polling booths:
According to the state Chief Election Commissioner (CEO), the Latehar constituency will have 358 polling booths. Overall, nearly 30,000 polling booths will be set up across Jharkhand for the 2024 Assembly elections.
What happened in the 2019 Assembly elections?
Held from November to December 2019, the last Assembly elections in the relatively young state of Jharkhand saw the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) voted to power in the state: contesting under the UPA, which consisted of the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as well, JMM alone won 30 seats in 2019, while managing to reduce the BJP’s tally from 37 seats in 2014 to 25 seats.
With help from the Congress, which won 16 seats, and from the RJD, which won one, the alliance cruised past the majority mark of 41, forming the government in the state with Soren as the Chief Minister.
However, Soren’s term would be marred by allegations of corruption, leading to a turbulent political phase for the state in 2024.
In January 2024, the Jharkhand CM was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over allegations of being involved in a land scam, a move that forced Soren’s hand. The JMM leader subsequently relinquished his post, handing over the reins to seven-time MLA Champai Soren. However, in June 2024, Hemant received bail in the case, allowing him to return as Jharkhand CM and seek a second consecutive term in these elections.
Latehar constituency election results:
In the 2019 Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate Baidyanath Ram won the Latehar seat with a margin of 16328 votes.
Latehar constituency voter turnout:
In the 2019 Assembly elections in Jharkhand, the Latehar constituency had 2,59,623 registered voters but only saw 1,76,464 votes cast—a turnout of 68.0 %.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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