Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate and Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his sister-in-law Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Sita Soren are in fray.

The first phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections took place on November 13 and the counting of votes for the two phases is scheduled on November 23.

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Jharkhand Assembly Elections: Major Talking Points

The BJP-led NDA allies have focussed on attacked the ruling JMM and its chief CM Hemant Soren for their alleged land scams and other corruption cases. Several BJP leaders have also picked on the 'infiltration' issue faced by Jharkhand along with the politicians assuring lower caste communities of protecting their rights.

On the other hand both JMM and Congress as part of the INDIA bloc has accused the BJP of using probe agencies like ED and CBI for their 'politically motivated' agendas referring to CM Hemant Soren's arrest in a Land scam for which he was jailed for five months. The INDIA bloc parties have also talked about tribal rights and welfare of the people in the state.

Soren's arrest led to Champai Soren, a former JMM leader to take the chair of chief minister briefly. Soon after Hemant Soren was granted bail, Champai Soren had to step down which wasn't accepted well by him and he left the party and joined BJP.

Jharkhand Assembly Elections: Key Candidates & Seats

Important Candidates

Some of the prominent among the candidates include Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana Soren (both JMM), his sister-in-law Sita Soren (BJP), state BJP president and ex-CM Babulal Marandi, Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahto (JMM), AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri (BJP).

Important Seats

The Santhal Pargana includes 18 of the 38 constituencies across six districts - Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur that are going for polls in the second phase.

Throughout the election campaigns, the NDA has focussed on this area as they claimed that a major part of the alleged infiltration took place in Santhal Paragana during the past five years of the JMM-led regime. But this region happens to be a stronghold of the JMM and a history of wins by the Soren family. Seats including Dumka, Rajmahal, Godda and Barhait are in Santhal Parganas.

Hemant Soren is contesting from Barhait seat a JMM bastion while his brother Basant Soren is in fray from the Dumka seat. In the last elections Hemant Soren won from both Barhait and Dumk, he retained the former seat and his brother later won in bypolls.

Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren is contesting from Gandey constituency which brought a lot of attention since she made her electoral debut earlier this year and was vocal about her husband's land fraud case. Gandey is also a bastion for the Sorens where the JMM won six out of 11 elections held since 1977

Sita Soren contesting from Jamtara seat leaving her stronghold Jama where she was previously a JMM MLA. Soren expects to win from this seat in her maiden attempt as BJP candidate.

Also Read | The New Hemant Soren

NDA - INDIA Bloc Candidates Across Seats

The NDA, led by BJP has fielded candidates in 68 seats in Jharkhand, while allies AJSU Party in 10, JD(U) in two and Lok Janshakti (Ram Vilas) in one.

Of the INDIA bloc, JMM has fielded candidates in 43 seats, Congress 30, RJD 6 and CPI(ML) 4 with friendly fights on some seats.

Jharkhand Assembly Polls 2019 Results

In the 2019 assembly elections, the contest was close, with the JMM winning 30 seats and the BJP securing 25, down from 37 in 2014. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won a comfortable majority with 47 seats.

Jharkhand Assembly Elections: Polling Details

A total of 1.23 crore voters including 60.79 lakh women and 147 third gender voters are eligible to participate in the voting on Wednesday.

Altogether 528 candidates - 472 men, 55 women and a third gender person - are in the fray in 38 seats.

Out of the 38, eight are reserved for scheduled tribes and three for scheduled castes.

A total of 14,218 polling stations have been set up in both rural and urban areas for the second and final phase of elections.

In the second phase, voting will be held on November 20 from 7 am to 5 pm. However, in 31 booths, the voting time will end at 4 pm, though people standing in the queue at that time will be able to vote.

The responsibility of the entire voting process at 239 polling stations will be on the hands of women, Kumar said, adding that 22 booths will be manned by persons with disabilities (PwDs).