Faulty selection of candidates led to Congress defeat in Jharkhand: Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Kumar Balmuchu

JAMSHEDPUR: Rajya Sabha member and former JPCC president Pradip Kumar Balmuchu today said that "irregularities" in selection of candidates was one of the reasons behind Congress' debacle in the recently concluded Jharkhand Assembly elections.

"We did not contest the elections properly. We could have won some more seats even though our performance was better than our expectation in this election," Balmuchu said.

"Even complaints about irregularities in selection of party candidates were received from various constituencies, which was one of the reasons behind the debacle," he said.

When his comments were sought on the separation of Congress and JMM over seat-sharing issue, Balmuchu said JMM did not agree to compromise on seats which led to the break up of the alliance.

He said Congress was, in fact, interested to forge an alliance with RJD, JD(U), JMM and JVM but it did not materialise, helping BJP-AJSU combine to get a majority in the state.