The CPI-ML has become the first party apart from the Congress in the INDIA bloc to announce its candidate for Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand.

The party has chosen Vinod Singh, a three-term MLA from Bagodar, as the joint candidate representing the INDIA bloc for the Koderma Lok Sabha constituency. Up to this point, the Congress has declared candidates for three Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, namely Khunti, Lohardaga and Hazaribagh.

Despite heading the coalition government with the Congress and the RJD in Jharkhand, the JMM has not yet officially disclosed its candidates. Similarly, the RJD has not put forth the name of its candidate.

“We have received clearance from the Congress, JMM and other coalition partners for the Koderma seat, and our senior leader Vinod Singh will be our candidate,” said CPI-ML politburo member and state secretary Manoj Bhakt.

“Our party has a good chance to wrest the seat from the BJP due to the clean image of our party candidate and the agitation done for unorganised mica sector workers in the region. The good work of the coalition government here will also come to our advantage. There is a huge anti-incumbency against the sitting MP,” said Bhakt.

A political observer said the Yadav community had been the deciding factor in poll outcomes of Koderma Lok Sabha constituency. However, this time there is a subtle change. He said upper caste and some Yadav voters expressed discontent towards incumbent MP Annapurna Devi, citing her failure to address Koderma’s issues
in Parliament.