Campaign ends in 20 tribal seats with strong BJP, JMM presence

RANCHI: Campaigning for the second phase of elections, which will cover 20 assembly seats of Jharkhand, ended this evening.

This phase is important for all four important players in the state politics- BJP, JMM, AJSU and JVM- in view of high presence of tribal voters. Out of the total 20 seats of the second phase, 16 seats are reserved for the scheduled tribes.

Moreover, this phase will also decide the fate of state’s top politicians, including the chief minister Raghubar Das, BJP rebel and former minister Saryu Rai, BJP’s state president Laxman Gilua, Jharkhand assembly speaker Dinesh Oraon, rural development minister Nilkanth Munda and former IAS officer and BJP leader JB Tubid.


Out of the 20 seats, BJP and JMM had won 8 and 7 seats, respectively in the 2014 assembly polls. While Congress and AJSU got two seats each, an Independent won a lone seat.

These 20 seats are- Bahargora, Ghatsila, Potka, Jugsalai, Jamshedpur (East), Jamshedpur (West), Seraikela, Kharsawan, Chaibasa, Majhgaon, Jaganathpur, Manoharpur, Chakradharpur,Tamar, Mandar, Torpa, Khunti, Sisai, Simdega and Kolebira.

Since this region has a high presence of tribal voters, Jharkhand’s old issue of “Jal Jangal aur Zamin” (water, forest and land) remained in focus during the campaign of all the political parties.

Ranchi, Khunti and Kolhan regions, where polls would be held in the second phase, have faced the problem of left wing extremism (LWE). Kolhan region is important as its 13 seats will be covered in this phase.

In this phase, the most interesting battle is in Jamshedpur (East) from where incumbent CM Raghubar Das in in the fray. BJP’s rebel Saryu Rai, who was a minister in Das government, is fighting as an independent candidate from the same seat.

Chaibasa seat will decide the fortunes of former IAS officer and BJP nominee J B Tubid, who is locked in a direct contest with JMM nominee Dipak Biruwa. Biruwa had defeated Tubid in 2014 assembly polls. Tubid has remained politically active in this seat in the last five years.