Ex-Jharkhand CMs Babulal Marandi, Hemant Soren likely to fight from two seats each

RANCHI: Undeterred by three successive electoral defeats in the past 10 years, former chief minister Babulal Marandi on Tuesday entered the arena again in the hope of getting lucky in his fourth electoral foray.


His party, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P), formally named him as candidate from Dhanwar assembly constituency in Giridih district on Tuesday.

Sources in the party said the 61-year-old may fight from one more "safe" seat in Santhal Pargana, the announcement of which will be made in the coming weeks.

In the 2014 assembly polls, Marandi contested from his pocket borough Dhanwar but lost to CPI-ML (L)'s Rajkumar Yadav by 10,6712 votes. He also contested from Giridih but finished third. BJP's Nirbhay Kumar Shahbadi drubbed JMM's Suvidya Kumar in the seat. His defeat from the two seats, which are in his home district of Giridih, has made the party scout for a "safe" seat in Santhal Pargana.

Marandi is not the only former CM planning to contest in two seats. JMM's working president Hemant Soren is also contemplating of filing his nomination papers from two seats. While it is certain that Hemant will seek a second term from Barhait in Santhal Pargana, of which he is the sitting MLA, the political circle is abuzz with speculations that he will also file papers from Dumka, considered the party's stronghold.

Five years ago, Hemant contested from both Dumka and Barhait. While he won the Barhait seat by defeating BJP's Hemlal Murmu by 24,087 votes, he lost in Dumka to the state social welfare minister, Lois Marandi, by 5,262 votes.

"Hemant's younger brother Basant, who is heading JMM's youth wing, has expressed his desire to contest from Dumka. But a final decision will be taken by the (Soren) family after they get into a huddle," a senior JMM functionary close to Hemant and his father Shibu Soren said. JMM did not officially comment on the developments when contacted.

However, the tribal party has made it clear that its chief Shibu Soren, an eight-time MP and three-time CM, will not contest the elections. Soren had lost from the Dumka parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year. "He will be the star campaigner of JMM and the entire mahagatbandhan of opposition parties in this election," JMM's principal general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said.

Another former CM, Arjun Munda , who has become the Union tribal welfare minister, will also be BJP's star campaigner. Munda, who won from Khunti parliamentary seat in a nail-biting finish, had struggled in his pocket borough, Kharsawn, in 2014 despite the Modi wave and lost to JMM's Dashrath Gagrai by 11,966 votes.

Madhu Koda, who served as CM for two years as an independent candidate, lost to JMM's Niral Purty by 11,182 votes from Manjhgaon five years ago. Koda will not be able to contest this time after the Supreme Court refused to lift the three-year ban on him from contesting in polls. The ban was imposed on Koda in 2017 after he failed to file his election expenses in the 2009 assembly polls.