Jamtara Assembly elections: Can BJP's Sita Soren stop Congress' Irfan Ansari from making hat-trick?

Jamtara Assembly elections: The seat is one of the hot seats in the Jharkhand assembly elections with a high-octane battle between BJP and Congress. Congress' Irfan Ansari is eying to win the third term from the constituency.

Jamtara Assembly Election 2024: The Jamtara Assembly constituency is one of the 81 constituencies in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. It is constituency number 09 of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. The constituency is a general seat not reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). Jamtara is one of the 6 assembly segments of Dumka (ST) Parliament Seat. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress are the main parties in the constituency. Irfan Ansari from Congress currently represents the Jamtara seat. 

Key contest

The key candidates for the Jamtara Assembly seat are Congress' incumbent MLA Irfan Ansari. BJP's Sita Soren is tied in the contest against him. Other candidates include BSP's Arif Ansari, NCP's Baleshwar Mandal, Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha's Tarun Gupta, CPI (M) candidate Lakhan Lal Mandal, HPP (Democratic) candidate Kuldip Yadav and JPP's Ahmad Hussain.

However, the main contest is between Ansari and Sita Soren. Soren is the daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren and the wife of the late Durga Soren. She left JMM accusing the party of not providing her adequate support after the demise of Durga Soren. She later joined the BJP. On the other hand, Irfan Ansari is a two-time MLA from the seat. 

When will Jamtara vote?

The voting for the assembly election in Jharkhand is scheduled in two phases. The first phase of voting took place on November 13 while the second and final phase of voting will take place on November 20. Voting in Jamtara will take place in the first phase on November 20.

When will the results be declared?

The results of the Jamtara assembly seat will be declared along with the other 80 seats on November 23.

What happened in the 2019 and 2014 Assembly Elections?

In the 2019 Jamtara Assembly election, Congress candidate, Irfan Ansari from Congress won the seat with a margin of 38,741 votes (18.5%). He was polled 1,12,829 votes with a vote share of 53.11%. He defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Birendra Mandal, who got 74,088 votes (34.87%). Independent candidate Tarun Kumar Gupta stood third with 6,219 votes (2.93%). The total number of valid votes polled was 2,09,420 (75.55%).

In the 2014 Jamtara Assembly election, Congress candidate Irfan Ansari won the seat. He was polled 67,486 votes with a vote share of 35.18%. BJP candidate Birendra Mandal got 58349 votes (30.42%) and was the runner-up. Ansari defeated Mandal by a margin of 9137 votes (4.76%). The total number of valid votes polled in this constituency was 1,87,831 (78.63%). JMM candidate Bishnu Prasad Bhaiya came in third with 52029 votes (27.12%)