JMM, Congress to contest 70 of 81 seats, RJD, left parties to get remaining seats : Valley Vision

The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress combine in Jharkhand declared their seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Assembly elections Saturday.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that the INDIA bloc will fight the polls together and that the JMM and the Congress will contest 70 of the state’s total 81 seats.

CM Soren indicated that the remaining 11 seats have been left for the INDIA bloc’s other allies such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Left.

“We can’t go into the details of the seat-sharing right now. Our alliance partner is not here right now. When they are here, we will finalise the number of seats and other details,” Soren told reporters.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which fought on seven seats in the last assembly polls, is expected to contest fewer seats this time and agree to give the Bagodar seat to Communist Party of India (M-L) and Nirsa to Marxist Coordination Committee (MMC), sources said.

Soren’s announcement came a day after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) revealed its seat-sharing formula for the state. BJP will contest 68 seats, while its allies, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) will contest 10, Janata Dal (United) will contest two and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will contest the lone seat of Chatra.

Jharkhand will vote in two phases on November 13 and 20.

Votes will be counted on November 23.