The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Left parties have reached an agreement to contest the two-phase November Assembly elections in Jharkhand as part of the India bloc, Chief Minister and JMM head Hemant Soren announced on Saturday.
Announcing the alliance at a press conference, Soren stated that his JMM and the Congress will jointly contest 70 seats out of the total 81, while the remaining 11 seats will be allocated to the RJD and Left parties.
He emphasised that the four-party alliance will contest the elections as a united front. However, the exact division of the 70 seats between JMM and Congress remains unannounced, with further discussions planned with alliance partners.
Talks regarding seat allocation for the RJD and Left parties are ongoing, and an official announcement on seat distribution will be made soon, the party said.
Notably, the Left parties were not part of the alliance in the 2019 elections, but this time, they will be contesting as part of the coalition.
Congress' Jharkhand in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Minister Dr Rameshwar Oraon, JMM General Secretary Vinod Pandey, and JMM MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu were also present at the time of the announcement.
Soren is expected to discuss seat-sharing details with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who are scheduled to arrive in Ranchi on Saturday. A final announcement on the seat distribution is expected in the next few days.
In the 2019 elections, the JMM fielded candidates on 43 seats, Congress on 31, and the RJD on 7 seats.
For the upcoming elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has already declared its seat-sharing arrangement, with the BJP contesting 68 seats, the AJSU 10, the Janata Dal-United two, and Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas one, out of the total 81 seats.
The elections in Jharkhand will be held in two phases, on November 13 and November 20, with the vote counting scheduled for November 23.
(With inputs from IANS)
