Jharkhand Assembly Election 2024 LIVE: Phase 2 Voting Underway In 38 Seats; CM Hemant Soren, Wife Kalpana Soren Among Key Candidates

Cpmmenting on the poll day, BJP candidate from Chandankiyari Amar Kumar Bauri said, "It is the morning of hope for Jharkhand. Twenty five years of Jharkhand is going to complete. The people are going to choose a government which will rule for five years. There is an atmosphere to save 'maati-beti-roti'. I am going to vote. We will get full majority, and form the government."

Since its formation in 2000, Jharkhand has turned out to be a political hotbed- where most of the mainstream political parties wanted to have its hold, despite its 14 seats in the Lok Sabha. With JMM CM Hemant Soren's arrest earlier this year, a number of questions keep lurking walking into the polls.

Today, we are looking at Jharkhand which has witnessed a significant shifts in the run-up to the polls with the arrest of Hemant Soren earlier this year. The NDA will look to replicate its 2019 performance in the state while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress-led INDIA bloc look to ride on its support from tribal communities, which forms the nucleus of Jharkhand's voter base. As the state goes to polls from May 13, here are the major parties and key factors that will play a crucial role in the coming days.

Read Full Story Here

Urging people to come out and vote in large numbers, PM Narendra Modi said, "Today is the second and last phase of the great festival of democracy in Jharkhand. I urge all voters to participate in it enthusiastically and create a new record of voting. On this occasion, I specially congratulate all my young friends who are going to vote for the first time. Your every vote is the strength of the state."

A voter turnout of 64.86% was recorded in the 43 Assembly constituencies in Jharkhand where polling was held in the first phase on November 13, officials said.

Lohardaga district topped the list with 73.21% polling while Hazaribag district recorded the lowest at 59.13, officials said and added that polling continued till 5 pm.

The poll percentage in other districts were Seraikela--Kharsawan (72.19), Gumla (69.01), Simdega (68.66), Khunti (68.36), Garhwa (67.35), Latehar (67.16), West Singhbhum (66.87) , Ramgarh (66.32), East Singhbhum (64.87), Chatra (63.26), Palamu (62.62), Koderma (62), Ranchi (60.49) and Hazaribag (59.13). 

Former CM Champai Soren and ex-MP Geeta Kora were among the 683 candidates in fray in the first phase.

In Jharkhand's Dumka, people queued up outside a polling booth as they await their turn to cast vote for the second and final phase of the state assembly elections.

The entire Hindutva ecosystem in Jharkhand, under the RSS’ leadership, has mobilised to reinforce these themes. Known for framing local issues through a Hindutva lens, Sarma has aggressively reoriented Jharkhand’s historic insider-outsider dynamic—a theme that has animated politics in the region since the inception of the Jharkhand Movement in the 1930s—to support the BJP’s agenda. In this election, Sarma has attempted to change the local political narrative of portraying diku (irritating/exploitative outsider) as dominant caste groups from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal to casting Muslims, particularly the spectre of “Bangladeshi infiltrators”, as the new existential threat.

Through narratives of “Love Jihad” and “Land Jihad”, the BJP alleges that Muslim outsiders are marrying Adivasi women and seizing Adivasi lands, effectively shifting the discourse to portray the JMM-led INDIA Bloc alliance as appeasers of these supposed threats. By tapping into both local anxieties and Hindu nationalistic fervour, the BJP is taking a calculated approach to reshape Jharkhand’s political landscape, aiming to fracture traditional alliances and consolidate its support among Adivasis, OBC Hindus, and SCs as the elections approach.

Read more here

Visuals have started coming in showing voters have started to queue up outside a polling booth in Silli.

The second phase of voting will decide the electoral fate of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana Soren (both JMM), and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri (BJP) besides more than 500 other candidates who are contesting in 38 of the total 81 assembly seats.

Read more on Jharkhand Assembly Elections Phase 2

Key factors that are likely to influence the election include the BJP's central welfare schemes and the arrest and subsequent bail of Soren by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The ruling alliance claims the arrest was politically motivated, as Soren was detained in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud.

This time, NDA is banking on the narratives of infiltration from Bangladesh, corruption of leaders including CM Hemant Soren who is out on bail, and the issue of Hindutva, the JMM-led ruling dispensation, on the other hand, tried to woo voters by promising welfare schemes and charging the BJP with spending Rs 500 crore in "malicious campaigns" against the CM who is a "tribal leader".

The list of prominent candidates for the second phase 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).

In Jharkhand, the stage is set for the second and final round of the electoral battle between the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition, who will seek to retain power, and the BJP-headed NDA will try to clinch it.

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.

Back in 2019, JMM bagged 30 seats and the BJP secured 25, down from 37 in 2014. The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won a comfortable majority with 47 seats.