BJP leader Champai Soren.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: While it registered an impressive win in Maharashtra, the BJP could not make an impressive mark in Jharkhand, where it bagged only 24 of the state’s 81 seats.
A leadership vacuum in the tribal state cost the BJP heavily, where two senior leaders of the party -- union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma -- could not help it sail through.
While the silver lining for the BJP is that it has bagged the highest percentage of votes (32%), which is more than that of the winning party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (24%), the party had a poor show in tribal areas. The BJP’s war cry in the tribal state – that “infiltrators” have taken over the Santhal Parganas and that there was a “love jihad” taking place in the region – did not work.
Of the 28 ST seats in the state, the BJP could win only 1, while the JMM picked up 20, and the Congress five. In the only seats that the BJP managed to win the state – Seraikela – the candidate was former chief minister Champhai Soren, who was with the JMM till recently.
Several leaders that DH spoke to said that the key reason behind the BJP’s loss, despite a spirited campaign by both Sarma and Chouhan, was that they did not have an alternative leadership to present the people as an alternative. A key leader from the state, not wishing to be named, said that the party should look inward into building a next crop of leaders.
“The BJP has been vexed by a political factor that has helped it in other regions in the past – the TINA (there is no alternative) factor. We have young faces in several state units like Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the transfer of power has been seamless. But in Jharkhand, relying on old faces like Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda, who lost the Lok Sabha elections early this year, has clearly not worked,” the leader said.
Munda’s wife Meera, who contested from the Potka reserved constituency, lost to the JMM’s Sanjib Sardar. Marandi, who was touted to be a CM face, however, did not contest from a reserved seat.
Significantly, what worked for the BJP in Maharashtra has worked for the JMM in Jharkhand. While women in Maharashtra seemed to have voted in favour of the BJP in response to its financial grant scheme Ladki Bahin Yojana, in Jharkhand, taking a cue from the BJP book, the JMM, too, promised a financial grant of Rs 1000 to women under the ‘Maiya Samman scheme’. Announced in August this year, the scheme is aimed to benefit women in the ages of 21 to 50 years, which account for over 50 lakh women.
Maharashtra Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here
Jharkhand Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here
Bypoll 2024 results | Check Karnataka results here
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
Subscribe and follow DH on Whatsapp, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to never miss out on anything.