Ranchi: With voting trends suggesting a wave in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party is set to form government in Jharkhand.
The party is leading in 42 of the 81 assembly seats. The BJP is ahead in 38 seats, while its ally, All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU), in four.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is on 17, Congress 8, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha 6 and others 8.
In a major development BJP's Chandreshwar Prasad Singh from Ranchi seat and Raj Sinha from Dhanbad have been declared winners while JMM candidate Stephen Marandi from Maheshpur is the thrid winner after Nirmal Purti and Dr. Anil Murmu of JMM.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren lost to Lois Marandi of BJP from Dumka where he was the sitting MLA. Soren, however, won from Barhait by 24,087 votes defeating his nearest BJP rival Hemlal Murmu.
While Chamra Linda of JMM won the Bishunpur seat by defeating Samir Oraon of BJP by 10,843 votes, Jharkhand BJP heavyweight and former chief minister Arjun Munda lost from Kharsawan to Dasrath Gagrai of JMM.
BJP candidate Ramkumar Pahan won from Khijri (ST) seat, defeating Congress candidate Sundri Devi by over 64,000 votes.
JVM(P) candidate Naveen Jaiswal won the Hatia seat by defeating nearest BJP rival Seema Sharma by 8,000 votes.
Former Speaker and BJP's sitting MLA C P Singh won from the Ranchi seat, defeating JMM's Mahua Maji by over 58,000 votes. In Kanke, BJP’s Jitu Charan Ram beat Congress’ Suresh Baitha by over 59,000.
Jharkhand, which has been battling Maoist violence, registered an overall 66 per cent turnout for the 81 assembly seats. The state, which was carved out of Bihar in 2000, bettered the previous mark of 54.2 per cent in the 2004 assembly polls.
Former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda lost to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Niral Party from Majhganon.
After BJP's win in Jharkhand, Minister of Information and Broadcasting said, "We are forming government in Jharkhand, will fulfill Atalji's dream & take Jharkhand ahead on the road of development."
JMM's Niral Purty wins Majhgaon seat defeating former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda
#PollResults : Celebrations outside BJP office in Ranchi (Jharkhand) pic.twitter.com/QH2RLdMDR2
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 23, 2014Nitish,Lalu, and Mulayam family to get bigger today..Soren(Jharkhand ) and Omar (J&K ) family joining them by the evening
— Giriraj Singh (@girirajsinghbjp) December 23, 2014Jamshedpur : BJP's Raghubar Das offers prayers ahead of #PollResults pic.twitter.com/pRdWfaP4If
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 23, 2014Arjun Munda,BJP: Trends are in favour of BJP,let us wait will definitely get some more good news #PollResults pic.twitter.com/Yqeai6Jn5M
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 23, 2014
“People of Jharkhand were in a decisive mood, they wanted to give a stable government to the state this time,” Ravindra Rai, Jharkhand BJP president said.
Altogether 1,136 candidates, including 111 women, contested in Jharkhand an eligible electorate of 2,08,52,437, including 98,93,540 female voters. Out of the total seats, 28 are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and nine for the Scheduled Castes.
Jharkhand, which has seen nine governments and three stints of President's rule in 14 years, saw fractured mandates in both 2005 and 2009 assembly elections.
