The ruling Grand Alliance and the Opposition in Jharkhand have decided on parties that will contest the byelection for the two Assembly seats, Dumka and Bermo, on November 3 but only the JMM has declared its candidate.

The two seats fell vacant because chief minister Hemant Soren who had won two seats in the last Assembly elections in December 2019 vacated Dumka and retained Barheit while Congress MLA of Bermo Rajendra Prasad Singh died in May.

The ruling combine decided that the parties that the seats in the last Assembly elections would contest those, meaning the JMM and the Congress would contest for Dumka and Bermo respectively.

The Opposition, on the other hand, announced that the BJP would contest both the seats.

“Ajsu Party is an old ally and we will work together for BJP candidates to help them win both the seats,” said BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash, adding that he, along with the party’s state unit general secretary Dharampal Singh had met Ajsu chief Sudesh Mahto at the latter’s Ranchi residence on October 2 when Mahto agreed on BJP contesting both the seats.

The BJP, however, is yet announce the names of its candidates for those two seats though the party’s state election committee discussed the issue in its meeting on Friday.

“The meeting authorised state president Deepak Prakash, leader of the party's legislature party Babulal Marandi and state general secretary Dharampal Singh to prepare a list of candidates and send that to the national leadership for their consideration,” BJP state unit vice-president and MP Sunil Singh said in a statement issued after the meeting.

The political circles, however, believe that the BJP could field Louise Marandi in Dumka and Yogeshwar Mahto in Bermo. They both had won those seats in 2014 but lost in 2019.

The JMM has already declared that it would field Basant Soren, chief minister’s younger brother, in Dumka that Hemant had won in 2009 and 2019 while the Congress would field its candidate in Bermo.

“We all will work together for the mahaganthbandhan (grand alliance) candidates in these seats and ensure their win,” said JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya.

“We are discussing it but will announce the name of the candidate only after taking the high command into confidence,” Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey replied when asked who would their candidate in Bermo.

“There is still enough time left for that,” Dubey further said, reminding that filing of nomination papers would start after the notification that will be issued on October 9.

Rajendra Prasad Singh won the seat six times since 1985 though he lost it twice and it is widely believed that one his sons, either Jai Mangal or Anup, will be the Congress candidate this time.