Jharkhand Assembly Election Results: According to trends available on the Election Commission website, India’s ruling bloc, led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), has taken a commanding lead in 51 of the 81 Jharkhand Assembly seats, while the party The NDA-led Bharatiya Janata (BJP) was leading in 30 seats. Early trends suggest that the JMM-led coalition managed to come out on top in the hotly contested parliamentary elections against the powerful BJP. The saffron party went to the elections with all weapons against the ruling alliance by raising issues like Bangladeshi infiltration, corruption, dynastic politics etc.

Despite the BJP’s claims that it strongly opposes the ruling power in Jharkhand, the people of the state have re-elected the Hemant Soren government.

The BJP has stayed the course in recent months by appointing Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma – seen by many as a Hindutva hardliner – as co-incharge, alongside the minister of the Union and senior leader of the party. Shivraj Singh Chouhanfailed to dislodge the JMM-led government.

These factors are likely to have affected the electoral fortunes of the BJP in Jharkhand

1. Likeability factor: When Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31 in connection with its probe into the money laundering case linked to illegal possession of 8.36 acres of land, the BJP thought it had a powerful weapon against the JMM. leader and continued to attack him over accusations of corruption, but the strategy boomeranged. When Soren was in prison, he deployed his wife Kalpana Soren to reach out to people to play a victim card and, it seems, he succeeded. The Soren couple and other JMM leaders ran entire campaigns against the BJP over the arrest of a sitting CM, who was released from jail before the crucial elections.
2. Bangladeshi infiltration problem: From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jharkhand BJP in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma, all party activists have raised the ‘Bangladeshi infiltration issue’ with all their might during the Jharkhand Assembly elections. The BJP has taken a tough stance on the issue, saying that if it comes to power, it will deport Muslims from Bangladesh to Bangladesh. Top BJP leaders, during election campaigns, claimed that parts of Jharkhand, particularly the Santhal Pargana region, were becoming a “mini-Bangladesh”. This issue hit the BJP as the ruling coalition convinced voters that the BJP was trying to bring about a communal agenda in line with the divide and rule principle.
3. The lack of face of the BJP in terms of CM: The saffron party did not project any chief minister face, which turned out to be a disadvantage to the opposition party compared to the ruling coalition, which was recognized from day one that its face of CM was Hemant Soren. In the absence of a CM in the BJP, there was confusion among voters as to who would lead the NDA, on the other hand, the ruling coalition was made clear that they were fighting the elections under the direction of Hemant Soren.
4. ED, CBI raids: The central investigation agencies – ED and CBI – have been in the news for raiding and arresting senior leaders of the ruling party, giving an opportunity to the Indian bloc to address people claiming that these Actions were politically motivated and biased. The BJP tried to give substance to the corruption issue it was raising, but at one point it did not go down well with voters.
5. Turncoats: From Sita Soren, sister-in-law of Hemant Soren to Jharkhand’s close aide Champai Soren, the BJP has attracted several opposition leaders into its fold. But the strategy of sharing political space with defectors has failed to yield electoral dividends. In fact, renegade Sita Soren was trailing the Jamtara seat by 33,481 votes.

Also read: Jharkhand election results: Kalpana follows in Gandey and checks the performance of other members of the Soren family