“Tiger” Jairam Mahato has made a stellar debut in the Jharkhand Assembly elections by defeating a JMM stalwart’s widow and winning the Dumri seat in Giridih district.

Jairam’s Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) also appears to have caused several upsets in the Chotanagpur region.

Jairam defeated the JMM’s Bebi Devi — the widow of late minister “Tigerda” Jagarnath Mahato — by 10,945 votes to clinch Dumri.

In Bermo, the 30-year-old PhD scholar was the runner-up, losing to coal union heavyweight Kumar Jaimangal of the Congress. He pushed former BJP MP Ravindra Pandey to the third place in a seat where coal unions controlled by the Congress and BJP
call the shots.

Jairam appears to have sidelined former deputy chief minister Sudesh Mahto of Ajsu Party, a BJP ally, as the main legislator of the Kudmi Mahato community. Sudesh lost Silli to the JMM’s Amit Kumar by 23,879 votes. The JLKM’s Devendra Mahto came third in the seat with 41,129 votes.

Ajsu lost Gomia to the JMM and outgoing MLA Lambodar Mahato was pushed to the third spot there. JLKM novice Puja Kumari came second. The BJP lost Chandankiyari to the JMM. Here, too, the JLKM came second and leader of the Opposition Amar Bauri of the BJP third.

The BJP lost its stronghold Bokaro to the Congress by 7,207 votes. The JLKM again came in third with 39,261 votes. Ajsu lost Ramgarh to the Congress by 6,790 votes while the JLKM came third with 70,979 votes. Ajsu
managed to win only the Mandu seat by a margin of just 231 votes over the Congress. The JLKM came third with 71,276 votes.

Interacting with reporters on Saturday, Jairam said: “With Jairam Mahato’s victory, thousands of youth in Jharkhand have found a way out. I have no
strong emotions right now as I have seen the pain and suffering of people over the past
few years.”

He added that the JLKM could have won seven to 10 seats had it “deviated from its principles” and used helicopters to campaign or fielded incumbent MLAs from other parties or their sons.

Jairam shot to prominence after leading protests against the introduction of Bhojpuri and Magahi in the Jharkhand government’s district-level recruitment exams in Bokaro and Dhanbad in 2021. He formed the JLKM this year. The party candidates contesting as Independents came third in Giridih, Ranchi and Hazaribagh, with
Jairam getting 27.46 per cent of the votes in Giridih.

Merger magic

CPIML-Liberation stalwart Vinod Singh lost the Bagodar seat in Giridih but the party gained two seats in Dhanbad district. Arup Chatterjee won Nirsa and Chandradeo Mahato won Sindri. Both of them were part of the Marxist Coordination Committee, which draws its support from coal miners. The party merged into CPIML-Liberation just
before the polls.

The party was pushed to the third place in Dhanwar where it was in a friendly contest with the JMM against former chief minister Babu Lal Marandi of the BJP who won.

Thanks, says Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hailed the INDIA bloc’s victory in the Jharkhand Assembly polls as one for the protection of the Constitution as well as of water, forest and land.

In a post in Hindi on X, Rahul wrote: “Heartfelt thanks to the people of Jharkhand for giving a huge mandate to INDIA. Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Chief Minister Hemant Sorenji, all the workers of the Congress and the JMM for this victory.
“This victory of the alliance in the state is a victory for the protection of water,
forest and land, along with that of the Constitution,” he said.