Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2024: Denied ticket, JMM's Litipara MLA says he'll take on party candidate

'I want to ask Chief Minister Hemant Soren why I was not given a ticket. Soren's family has been allotted three tickets, while not a single ticket was given to Simon Marandi's family,' JMM MLA Dinesh William Marandi said on Wednesday.

Ranchi: Irked over being denied a ticket, JMM MLA Dinesh William Marandi on Wednesday threatened to contest the assembly polls against the party's official nominee from his Litipara seat.

Speaking to PTI, he said his father Simon Marandi was one of the founders of the JMM and worked for years to strengthen the party.

"I want to ask Chief Minister Hemant Soren why I was not given a ticket. Soren's family has been allotted three tickets, while not a single ticket was given to Simon Marandi's family, which has equal contribution in forming the party and strengthening it," he said.

"My father was the first MLA of JMM, and he brought Shibu Soren to Dumka from Nemra in Bokaro. He also helped him to win the election," he added.

Marandi won the Litipara seat in Pakur district by defeating BJP's Daniel Kisku by 13,903 votes in the 2019 elections.

JMM has named candidates for 36 seats so far. Among them were CM Soren from Barhait, his wife Kalpana Soren from Gandey, and brother Basant Soren from Dumka. The party has fielded Hemlal Murmu in the Litipara seat.

In an apparent attack on Murmu, Marandi said the people of Litipara would not accept an "outsider".

"Even though I was denied a ticket, I will contest the election and that too from the Litipara," he said without mentioning whether as an Independent or as the candidate of any other party.