Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Unveils 40 Star Campaigners for Ghatshila Bypoll

Ranchi/Jamshedpur: A day after announcing its candidate for the Ghatshila bypoll, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Thursday notified a list of 40 star campaigners for the ensuing bypoll slated on Nov 11.

Senior party leaders led by the chief minister and JMM central president, Hemant Soren, his wife and Gandey MLA Kalpana Soren, and other veteran party MLAs, ministers, and members are listed among the star campaigners. The list was issued by JMM’s central general secretary Vinod Pandey.The party on Wednesday fielded Somesh Chandra Soren, the son of deceased ex-minister Ramdas Soren, as the INDIA bloc’s joint candidate. He will take on BJP’s Babulal Soren, son of ex-CM and Seraikela MLA Champai Soren. Both candidates are expected to file their nomination papers on Friday.

As BJP repeated Babulal, JMM criticised the move, saying the saffron party is fielding “borrowed players”.Meanwhile, both BJP and NDA claimed that the mass popularity of the former CM and Seraikela MLA Champai Soren, who shifted his allegiance from JMM to BJP, among the tribal community has propelled the saffron party to field his son Babulal Soren for the second time in a row from the Ghatsila assembly constituency.

Notably, the saffron brigade has been contesting elections in Ghatsila since 1985, and in every election, the party has fielded a new candidate, including in the last five assembly polls since Jharkhand came into existence.Even Laxman Tudu, the leader credited for bringing success to BJP in Ghatsila in the 2014 assembly election, was denied a ticket in 2019.“The party does not want to antagonise Champai Soren ahead of the crucial Bengal election, where he is expected to be given an important role to woo the Santhal tribals.

Moreover, the Bihar polls are underway and Champai will be one of the party campaigners in the tribal constituencies,” a party insider said.Another leader said the party's central leadership took a unilateral decision and didn’t consult the district committee for probable candidates.“Ghatsila election result will not make any difference to the stability of the state govt, but with Champai’s increasing popularity among the ST community, following his anti-Bangladeshi infiltration campaigns and particularly after Rims-2 land acquisition agitation, provided sufficient ground for the leadership to concede to the request of Champai to repeat his son as the Ghatshila candidate,” the state committee leader entrusted with planning the bypoll strategy said.Other insiders said 41-year-old Babulal has also increased his popularity and acceptability among the active party members.“In the 2024 state election, he was an outsider to the party workers. So, there was an issue of acceptability, but in the last year, Babulal has reformed himself and is more open and approachable to the party cadres,” a gramin zila BJP member said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi also arrived in Moubhandar to address a public rally in Babulal’s support and helped the party shore up its vote share in the tightly contested poll.Ultimately, JMM’s winner and now deceased, Ramdas Soren, had bagged 98,356 votes while BJP secured 75,910 votes, which the saffron party felt was a close call.Talking about the bypoll, a Champai confidant said, “The Ghatsila bypoll is the first election being held after the demise of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren. During this period, Champai’s growing acceptability as the guardian of the tribals will help BJP. The sympathy for Ramdas’s family will also be at play in this by-election.”Reacting to BJP's repeat of its candidate, JMM MLA from the adjoining Baharagora assembly seat, Samir Mohanty, said the national party lacks a “bona fide BJP member", hence it had to field a “borrowed player”.“Remember, till about a year ago, Champai da and his son were dedicated JMM leaders. BJP has borrowed them,” Mohanty added.