Chief minister Hemant Soren’s younger brother Basant will be the grand-alliance’s official candidate for the November 3 byelection in Dumka, the JMM announced on Wednesday.
Basant (42), youngest of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren’s four children, who is chief of the party’s youth wing, will file his nomination on October 12.
JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee said, “Following extensive deliberations across within the party, and on the guidance of party supremo Shibu Soren, JMM has decided to field Basant Soren for the Dumka byelections.”
Bhattacharjee said the JMM’s coalition partners — Congress and RJD—would actively take part in the election campaign to ensure victory of the candidate. “It has been decided that he (Basant) will file his nomination on October 12. Senior party leaders including JMM working president Hemant Soren will be present at the time,” he said.
The party general secretary claimed that the decision to field Basant in Dumka, a JMM bastion and a prestigious seat from where Soren Senior began his political career, was based on popular demand by local residents and party workers.
“Last month, Hemant undertook a three-day tour of Dumka to assess the ground situation. He also held extensive meetings with regard to the bypolls. Based on the feedback from the ground, the party has decided to field Basant Soren as our candidate,” Bhattacharjee said.
Basant contested the 2016 Rajya Sabha as a JMM candidate but lost. Despite having the necessary numbers, he lost after a couple of MLAs remained absent during voting that saw cross voting by two MLAs. As a result, the then ruling BJP-led government clinched both seats.
Bhattacharjee, however, said that the tables had turned this time and the party was hopeful of clinching both the seats in the coming byelections. Along with Dumka, voting will also be held in Bermo on November 3. While Dumka fell vacant after Hemant vacated it to retain Barhait after last year’s Assembly polls, election in Bermo was necessitated after the demise of Congress MLA Rajendra Prasad Singh in May this year.
The Congress party is expected to announce its candidate for Bermo in the first week of October. Rajendra’s son, Jai Mangal Singh, is said to be the frontrunner for a ticket as the grand alliance’s candidate.
BJP silent on candidates
Opposition BJP, however, is yet to reveal its cards. But party insiders claimed that former Dumka MLA Louise Marandi, who lost to Hemant in 2019, may get another chance. The party is currently busy wooing AJSU-P, its estranged ally, to put up a united fight. In last year’s Assembly polls, both BJP and AJSU-P had fought separately after their relationship suffered a jolt over lack of consensus on seat sharing, giving an edge to the JMM-Congress-RJD’s grand alliance.
A BJP insider said, “We are trying to put up a united fight along with AJSU-P in both the seats this time to defeat the ruling dispensation. Fighting individually will lead to a split in votes.
“In the 2019 Assembly polls, the JMM-Congress-RJD combine got 62 lakh votes while AJSU-P managed 7 lakh and BJP close to 52 lakh votes. Had we fought together, we could have managed to prevent a split and defeat the grand alliance.”
The House numbers
Currently, the ruling coalition has 47 MLAs in the 81-member Assembly with an effective strength of 79. JMM has 29 MLAs, Congress 17 and RJD 1. Two former JVM-P MLAs—Bandhu Tirkey (Mandar) and Pradeep Yadav (Poriyahat) _ joined the Congress after the 2019 Assembly polls, taking the total count of MLAs of the ruling dispensation to 49.
The BJP on the other hand has 26 MLAs after Babulal Marandi merged his party with the saffron camp, while AJSU-P has two seats, taking the NDA’s count to 28.
