Jharkhand Assembly elections: JMM, RJD deadlock continues over seat-sharing

RJD and JMM continue hard bargaining over seat sharing for Jharkhand Assembly polls, no consensus reached yet.

Hard bargaining continues between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Ranchi on the third consecutive day over seat sharing for the Jharkhand Assembly polls. Despite holding three meetings between RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Chief Minister Hemant Soren, both parties did not reach any consensus on Monday (October 21, 2024).

The RJD on Sunday (October 20, 2024) announced to go solo if reasonable seats were not offered and asserted that the party had a strong base in 22 constituencies. However, the party stressed that it will not let the boat sink or sabotage the INDIA bloc’s prospects of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jharkhand.

On Monday, Mr. Yadav held a meeting with Mr. Soren. RJD MP Manoj Jha and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Yadav were present at the meeting at Mr. Soren’s official residence in Kanke, Ranchi. However, the half-an-hour meeting ended with no conclusion. CPI(ML) representatives were also present during the meeting.

On Saturday, JMM executive president Mr. Soren announced that the JMM and the Congress would contest 70 seats, leaving the 11 remaining seats to be shared between the RJD and the Left parties. Hours later, the RJD expressed dissatisfaction over the “unilateral” seat-sharing arrangement.

Earlier in the day, the RJD was scheduled to hold a press conference and was about to release the list of candidates which got postponed twice.

Sources in the RJD said the party had agreed on the seven seats contested in the last Assembly election and the remaining four would be given to the CPI(ML), which is supporting the government in the Assembly.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the JMM contested 43 seats and won 30; the Congress contested 31 and won 16; and the RJD contested seven seats but won only one seat.