A day after the first round of voting in state elections, political camps across the spectrum made tall claims on Sunday, but insiders revealed that parties were busy trying to gauge the real picture to chart out the strategy for the next four phases.
Thirteen of the 81 Assembly seats voted on Saturday. On Sunday, both the BJP and Congress claimed that the ruling party and the Opposition combine (JMM-Congress-RJD) would win 11.
On the likely outcome of the first phase, senior BJP leader and party election co-in-charge Nand Kishore Yadav told The Telegraph: “The Opposition was washed out in the first phase. There was an undercurrent of support among voters in favour of the BJP.” Though Yadav initially avoided answering how many of the 13 seats the BJP would win, after repeated prodding he said: “At least 11.”
Defence minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who addressed election rallies in Jharkhand on Sunday, claimed that after the first phase of elections it was clear that the BJP was going to get “clear majority in the state”.
Amid these tall claims, BJP insiders said the party might not increase their tally. “Of these 13 seats, we had MLAs in six seats. I think the number will be the same,” a party worker said and added “the Lohardaga seat is a big concern”.
The BJP, in a high-wattage decision, had given the Lohardaga party ticket to Congress defector Sukhdeo Bhagat to contest against state Congress chief Rameshwar Oraon. Though tight-lipped about whether this decision had backfired, the BJP insider contended: “Party strategists will be more than happy if Ajsu’s Neru Shanti Bhagat wins.” “Moreover,” added the insider, “The fight is tough at Bishrampur, Gumla, Bishunpur, Garhwa and Chatarpur.”
Asked, the Opposition camp also sounded confident. “BJP has been wiped out in the first phase and our alliance will win at least 11 out of the 13 seats,” Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey said.
JMM spokesperson Vinod Pandey echoed Dubey. “The anger of voters was reflected in polling booths as people came out in large numbers to make the Opposition alliance win.”
Again, insiders threw up a different picture. A Congress source said of the six seats that the party contested in the first phase they would be more than happy to win three. A JMM source revealed that “feedback suggested” that party would win Gumla and Bishunpur seats but there was doubt about Latehar and Garhwa. “We are not very confident about RJD that contested Hussainabad, Chatarpur and Chatra seats in the first phase,” said the JMM insider.
In the Babulal Marandi-led JVM camp, party media-in-charge Tauhid Alam claimed the party would win the highest number of seats among all political parties in the first round of voting. “Bishrampur and Daltonganj seats are ours,” a Marandi aide said.
BJP’s estranged ally Ajsu Party contested Lohardaga, Chatarpur and Hussainabad seats. Not going into numbers, party spokesperson Deosharan Bhagat made a very Delphic comment. “Our strike rate is will be very high.”
Bhawnathpur, Garhwa, Hussainabad, Chatarpur, Bishrampur, Panki, Daltonganj, Latehar, Manika, Lohardaga, Bishunpur, Gumla and Chatra voted in the first phase. The BJP contested 12 seats and backed an Independent from Hussainabad, Ajsu Party contested three, the JVM all 13 seats, allies Congress, JMM and RJD six, four and three seats, respectively.