 "Campaigning ends for first phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections")
Campaigning for the 43 seats scheduled to go to polls in the first phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections ended on Monday.
There are 81 Assembly seats in total. Of the 28 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs), 19 will vote on Wednesday, including Saraikella, which former chief minister Champai Soren has represented successively since 2005 as a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate.
For the 2024 Assembly polls, Champai is contesting as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the seat and carries the weight of BJP’s hopes of improving its performance in the ST constituencies. Five years ago, the BJP could win only two of the 28 ST reserved seats, both of which, Torpa and Khunti, will poll in the first phase. The BJP had won 25 seats in total, including 13 that will vote in the first phase.
In 2019, of the 43 seats, the JMM-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance won 26, which included 17 of the 19 ST reserved seats that will vote in the first phase.
It explains the BJP’s high-profile election campaign highlighting its efforts to consolidate ST, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) votes.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress of trying to break the collective strength of the SCs, STs, and OBCs by creating divisions among them.
Addressing BJP workers in Jharkhand, he exhorted them to remain united.
“That's why I keep saying ‘ek rahenge, toh safe rahenge (if you remain united, you would be safe)," he said.
Interacting with state party workers under the 'mera booth sabse mazboot' programme through the NaMo app, Modi said “everyone from the royal family” of the Congress was a “staunch opponent” of the provision of reservation.
The Congress wants Dalits, tribals and other backward classes to break into “hundreds of smaller castes” to get scattered, lose their identity, and fight with each other, he said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the Opposition INDIA bloc needed to win the upcoming Assembly polls to prevent Modi from amending the Constitution.
While addressing public meetings in Jharkhand, he accused the prime minister of “toppling governments”, “purchasing MLAs”, and using central probe agencies against opposition leaders.
“Modi, (Amit) Shah, Adani and Ambani are running the country, while Rahul Gandhi and I are trying to save the Constitution and democracy,” he claimed.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also addressed public meetings in Jharkhand.
JMM promises 33% job reservation for women
The JMM on Monday released its manifesto for the elections promising 33 per cent of reservation to women in state government jobs. The manifesto, unveiled by party supremo Shibu Soren, focuses on nine areas, including agriculture, education and the rights of residents.