Congress releases names of 14 candidates for Jharkhand polls

NEW DELHI: Jharkhand Congress chief Sukhdeo Bhagat, who lost the 2009 elections as the sitting MLA, today figured in the first list of 14 party candidates whose names were announced for the upcoming state Assembly polls, a day after the party snapped its ties with the ruling JMM.

Bhagat got the ticket for the third straight time from Lohardaga (ST) seat.

K N Tripathy, the Rural Development Minister in the Hemant Soren government, has been nominated from Daltonganj.

Bidesh Singh, who won the last polls as independent and joined the Congress recently, will fight from Panki constituency.

The list also icludes Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Mannan Malik (Dhanbad), Agriculture Minister Banna Gupta (Jamshedpur-West), HRD Minister Geetashree Oraon (Sisai-ST), Finance Minister Rajendra Prasad Singh (Bermo), sitting MLA Rajesh Ranjan (Mahagama) and Sarfraz Ahmad (Gandey).

The other candidates are Binod Kispotta from Gumla (ST) constituency, Bobby Bhagat (Bishunpur-ST), Muneshwar Oraon (Manika-ST), Ajay Dubey (Bishrampur) and sitting MLA Ananth Pratap Deo (Bhawanthpur).

Jharkhand will have five-phase assembly elections beginning on November 25. Thirteen constituencies are going for polls in the first phase.

Eight of the 14 candidates will file nominations for the first-phase polls while the rest will file papers for different polling dates.

Congress yesterday called off its alliance with ruling JMM in Jharkhand after sharing power for some 16 months in the tribal-dominated state.

Congress would contest the Assembly polls in Jharkhand along with RJD and JD-U, with which it had faced bypolls in Bihar in August.