Jharkhand elections: 10 bigwigs including the Chief Minister and BJP state president are in the fray in the second phase

Ranchi. Out of the 38 seats for which voting is to be held on November 20 for the second and last phase of Jharkhand assembly elections, all eyes are on the hot seats of 10 big politicians.
These include the seats of CM Hemant Soren, the first CM of the state and BJP state president Babulal Marandi, JMM star campaigner Kalpana Soren, AJSU party chief Sudesh Mahato, four ministers of the state government Irfan Ansari, Deepika Pandey Singh, Hafizul Hasan and Baby Devi, Speaker of the Assembly Rabindranath Mahato and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Amar Bauri.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren is in the fray for the third time as a JMM candidate from Barhet in Sahibganj district. He is pitted against Gamaliel Hembram, a candidate who left AJSU and joined BJP. Gamaliel got only 2,573 votes in the 2019 assembly elections as an AJSU candidate. In the 2019 assembly elections, BJP had fielded Simon Malto on this seat, who got more than 48 thousand votes. This time BJP cut Simon Malto's ticket, so he got angry and joined JMM and is handling the campaign of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
BJP's state president and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi is in the fray from Dhanwar seat of Giridih district. The unity of India Alliance has broken down on this seat and both the parties of JMM-CPIML alliance have fielded their candidates from here. CPIML has fielded Rajkumar Yadav and JMM has fielded Nizamuddin Ansari. Independent candidate Niranjan Rai, who is making inroads into BJP's votes, took membership of BJP in front of Home Minister Amit Shah and in the last phase of the campaign, he was seen roaming around with Babulal Marandi and asking for votes for him.
The third hot seat is Gandey of Giridih district, from where Chief Minister Hemant Soren's wife and JMM's star campaigner Kalpana Soren Murmu is in the fray. BJP has fielded Giridih Zila Parishad President Munia Devi against her. This seat, which has Muslim and tribal majority voters, was won only once by BJP candidate Jaiprakash Verma in 2014. Jamtara is also counted among the hot seats of the state, from where Congress candidate and Hemant government minister Irfan Ansari, who is always in controversies due to his statements, is in the fray with the hope of a hattrick. Sita Soren, daughter-in-law of the Soren family and sister-in-law of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, is giving him a tough fight. After a personal and objectionable comment made by Irfan Ansari on Sita Soren a few days ago, Irfan Ansari is on the defensive and the BJP is on the offensive.
Silli seat of Ranchi district is also counted among the hot seats of the state due to the candidature of AJSU chief Sudesh Mahto. Sudesh Mahto has occupied this seat from 2000 to 2019 except 2014. In 2014, Amit Mahto snatched this seat from him as a JMM candidate. JMM has once again made Amit Mahto the candidate. Devendra Mahato of JLKM (Jharkhand Loktantrik Kranti Morcha) is trying to make this face-to-face contest between Sudesh and Amit triangular.
Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahato is contesting from Nala seat, where BJP has fielded Madhav Chandra Mahato, who contested on AJSU ticket in the last election. BJP and AJSU contested the 2019 election separately. The BJP candidate got around 57 thousand votes and the AJSU candidate got more than 16 thousand votes. This time BJP and AJSU are together. Leader of Opposition in Jharkhand Assembly Amar Kumar Bauri is trying his luck from Chandankiyari seat. He is pitted against JMM's Umakant Rajak, who has left AJSU and joined JMM. On Mahagama seat of Godda district, Deepika Pandey Singh, a minister from Congress quota in the Hemant Soren government, is in direct contest with BJP's Ashok Bhagat.
JMM quota minister Hafizul Hasan is facing a tough challenge from BJP's Ganga Narayan Singh on Madhupur seat of Deoghar district. Another minister of Hemant government Baby Devi is stuck in a triangular contest on Dumri seat. She is being challenged by AJSU Party's Yashoda Devi and Jharkhand Loktantrik Kranti Morcha's (JLKM) firebrand leader Jairam Mahto. Apart from these, important candidates of this phase include BJP Legislative Party Chief Whip Biranchi Narayan from Bokaro, Whip Anant Ojha from Rajmahal, Pradeep Yadav who left JVM and joined Congress is contesting from Podiyahat, Nishat Alam, wife of former minister Alamgir Alam who is in jail on corruption charges, is contesting from Pakur, JMM rebel and BJP candidate Lobin Hembram from Borio, CPI-ML leader Vinod Singh from Bagodar, Chief Minister Hemant Soren's close aide Sudivya Sonu from Giridih, Kedar Hazra who left BJP and joined JMM is contesting from Jamua.