Campaign ends for first phase of Jharkhand polls and bypolls to 31 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seats

Among the 33 Assembly seats originally announced to go to byelection in this phase, polling would be held in only 31 as in Sikkim, the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) has won two seats uncontested.

Campaigning ended for phase-I of Jharkhand Assembly elections as well as bypolls in 33 Assembly constituencies and the high-profile Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency of Kerala from where Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut.

Among the 33 Assembly seats originally announced to go to byelection in this phase, polling would be held in only 31 as in Sikkim, the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) has won two seats uncontested.

Also read | Poll-bound Jharkhand ranks poorly in many socio-economic indicators

In Jharkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah raised the poll fever on the last day of campaign.

While Mr. Modi launched an all-out attack on the Congress, the JMM and the RJD, Mr. Shah said if the BJP were to be elected to power in the State, a committee would be formed to identify and drive out ‘infiltrators’ from the State.

The PM accused the Congress of talking big but failing to deliver on its promises. He also slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for his remarks that the BJP had given “false guarantees” to people.

During the campaign, the BJP had claimed the JMM coalition government was allowing “Bangladeshi infiltrators” into Jharkhand, changing the demography in tribal areas, a charge denied by the INDIA bloc. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Kharge had raised the issue of caste census.

Complaint of MCC violation

Meanwhile, an FIR was registered against the BJP’s Jharkhand unit in Ranchi on Monday for violation of model code of conduct based on a complaint from the Congress, Election Commission sources said. The BJP is accused of posting ‘false and misleading’ videos on the ‘BJP 4 Jharkhand’ social media handle against INDIA bloc leaders.

Of the 81 Assembly constituencies in the State, 43 will vote on November 13 while the rest will go to polls on November 20. In the first phase, the keenly watched contests are for the seats of Seraikella, Ranchi, Jamshedpur West, Jaganathpur and Jamshedpur East.

Former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Champai Soren is contesting from Seraikella. Jamshedpur East will see a faceoff between Congress’ Ajoy Kumar, who once served as the SP of Jamshedpur, and Purnima Das Sahu, daughter-in-law of former Jharkhand Chief Minister and current Odisha Governor Raghubar Das.

In the high-octane campaign in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former MP from the constituency Rahul Gandhi joined his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the last day of the campaign.

Congress’ Ms. Vadra is pitted against BJP’s Navya Haridas and CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri.

The Wayanad byelection was necessitated after Mr. Gandhi vacated the seat following his victory from Raebareli in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Trinamool, EC trade barbs

In West Bengal, where six Assembly constituencies are going to bypolls, the ruling Trinamool Congress was engaged in a war of words with the Election Commission.

On Monday, the ECI issued a notice to BJP State president Sukanta Majumdar over his alleged remarks ‘insulting the national emblem’ even as it rejected allegations of ‘delay’ made by the Trinamool Congress in response. The poll body asserted that it acted within 20 hours of receiving the party’s complaints.

In a strongly worded letter to party leader Derek O’ Brien, the ECI said it was “surprising” that even after prompt action was taken by the Commission, there had been “unwarranted comments of delay”.

Mr. O’ Brien responded by refuting the poll body’s claims. He said, “...we have personally seen over the last three days how little the ECI respects the party with the third largest number of MPs in Parliament”.

The TMC had approached the ECI over alleged misuse of central forces in West Bengal first on Nov 8. A delegation of TMC leaders, including TMC Parliamentary Party Leader of Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay, Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Party Leader Derek O’Brien, and MPs Kirti Azad, Saket Gokhale and Sushmita Dev, had visited the poll panel on Saturday and submitted two memoranda related to the ongoing bypoll campaign.

Published - November 11, 2024 09:57 pm IST