Patna: The Assembly polls in Jharkhand will be held in five phases beginning November 30, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
Primary challenges faced by Chief Minister Raghubar Das-led BJP would be the Naxal issues, human trafficking and rising cases of mob lynching in the state.
According to officials who have been monitoring the poll preparations in the state, there are about 19 districts that are affected by Left-wing extremism out of which 13 have been marked as ultra-sensitive.
Das who is trying hard to retain power for the second term, has been pushing for the implementation of NRC in Jharkhand.
Last month he had raised the political pitch in the state by saying that “all illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators would be identified and sent back to their country by the BJP government”.
The BJP has been of the view that illegal Bangladeshi migrants entered Jharkhand through the West Bengal route and settled in various districts of the state.
The BJP in alliance with All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) had won 42 seats (BJP- 37 and AJSU- 5) in the 2014 Assembly elections. However, the strength had gone up to 48 after six Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) legislators joined the BJP in February 2015.
During the Lok Sabha polls this year, the BJP and allies had clinched 12 out of 14 seats in the state.
Jharkhand which was separated from Bihar in 2000 has remained BJP and JMM stronghold. The state has 28 Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 9 Scheduled Caste (SC) seats in the 81 member state Assembly.
Political analysts who have been closely monitoring political developments in Jharkhand are of the view that both the JMM and the Congress may face trouble finding suitable candidates in constituencies which were earlier held by legislatures who joined BJP last month.
“We are confident that the BJP will return to power with full majority this year. Our target is to win more than 65 plus Assembly seats in Jharkhand. I can say this with full confidence because our government has worked hard for the development of Jharkhand and people have benefitted from several welfare schemes,” Nand Kishore Yadav, BJP election co-in charge of Jharkhand told this newspaper.
He said that the party has been holding interactive sessions in tribal areas to understand people’s viewpoints on the developmental schemes launched by the state government.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties, the JMM and the Congress have announced their alliance but are yet to finalize the seat-sharing deal. Sources claim that the RJD is also in talks with the JMM for sizable seat share to contest in the Assembly polls.
“All these issues have already been discussed by our alliance partners and we will be announced soon,” Congress Jharkhand in-charge RPN Singh told reporters after the election commission announced the poll dates on Friday.
