Ranchi, Nov 23: Hemant Soren’s JMM-led alliance was all set to retain Jharkhand as it was leading in at least 56 seats in the 81-member state assembly, as per Election Commission data on Saturday afternoon.
The performance of the BJP-led NDA, which was confident about its prospects in the state after an aggressive campaign, was poorer than its expectations. It was leading in just 23 seats.
The BJP’s poll plank was driving out “infiltrators” from the Santhal Parganas region, but it seemed to have fallen flat in front of the ‘Adivasi’ card played by the JMM, which also sought the people’s sympathy over the arrest of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Also, bickering within the BJP over giving nominations to turncoats seemed to have cost the party.
According to the latest EC figures, the JMM was leading in 33 of the 43 seats it contested, the Congress was ahead in 16 of the 30 seats where it fielded candidates, the RJD pulled a surprise and was leading in five of the six seats it fought, while the CPI(ML) Liberation was ahead in two of the four seats it fought.
The ruling coalition witnessed friendly fights in some seats.
The BJP was leading in 21 of the 68 seats it contested, while the LJP (Ram Vilas) was leading in the lone seat it fought, and the JD(U) was ahead in one of the two seats it contested. The AJSU Party was virtually wiped out with its candidates, including chief Sudesh Mahto, trailing in all 10 seats it contested.
The majority mark in the assembly is 41.
The chief minister was leading in the Barhait seat by 20,469 votes after 12 rounds of counting. His wife Kalpana Soren, credited with revitalising the JMM after the arrest of her husband, was leading by 1,612 votes in the Gandey seat after 14 rounds.
State BJP president Babulal Marandi was leading in the Dhanwar seat by 16,691 votes, former CM Champai Soren was nearing victory in Seraikela with a lead of 28,905 votes and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri was trailing in the Chandankiyari seat by 33,426 votes.
Congress minister Banna Gupta was trailing JDU’s Saryu Roy in the Jamshedpur West seat by 21,721 votes. In Ranchi, CP Singh of BJP was leading against JMM’s Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Majhi by 23,308 votes.
A total of 1,211 candidates were in the fray in the elections.
Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said the counting of votes is likely to be completed by 4 pm.
The elections recorded a voter turnout of 67.74 per cent, the highest since the formation of the state in 2000.
The polling was held in two phases 43 seats on November 13, and 38 seats on November 20.(PTI)
