The JMM appears ready not only to return to power, but also to improve its 2019 record.

New Delhi:

For Hemant Soren, the start and end of 2024 couldn’t have been more different.

Less than a month into the year, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a land scam case and he had made sure to resign from his post as Chief Minister of Jharkhand before being arrested. Now, with a month to go until the end of the year, Mr. Soren emerges as the architect of a landslide victory, ensuring that the Indian alliance remains in power in the state and that he secures a second term consecutively as chief minister.

The JMM leader has also suffered several other setbacks in the meantime.

After Mr. Soren’s arrest on January 31, his sister-in-law, Sita Soren, wife of his late brother Durga Soren, joined the BJP in March. She was miffed by alleged attempts to appoint Mr Soren’s wife Kalpana as chief minister in his absence and was expelled from the JMM for “anti-party” activities in May.

The former chief minister was later granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in June, five months after his arrest. The court ruled that, at first sighthe was not guilty and was unlikely to commit a similar offense, noting that both bail conditions under the strict Prevention of Money Laundering Act were met.

Champai Soren – a close aide of JMM chief Shibu Soren and widely considered the party’s number three – was appointed chief minister in Hemant Soren’s absence. Trouble began brewing, however, when the party asked him to resign in July following Mr. Soren’s release.

“When the leadership changed, I was given responsibilities. You know the sequence of events. After Hemant Soren returned, we (coalition) chose him as leader and I resigned. I am the decision taken by the coalition,” Champai Soren said upset after his resignation in July.

He joined the BJP a month later, claiming to have been “humiliated and insulted” and wanting to bring justice to the people. The BJP has also accused the JMM-Congress alliance of enabling “infiltration” in the state, an issue that appears to be gaining ground among voters.

Despite all this, and some seat-sharing issues with allies like the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Mr Soren ensured that his party improved its numbers to 33 this year out of the 81-member Assembly, up from 30 in 2019 The Congress, RJD and CPI(ML) took the ruling coalition’s tally to 55, with the BJP-led alliance leading with just 25 seats.