Hemant Soren's Sister-In-Law Is BJP's Pick For Jharkhand's Dumka Seat

The BJP announced the names of three candidates in Jharkhand, including Sita Soren - former JMM MLA and sister-in-law of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren - from Dumka (ST) constituency.

The party on March 2 announced that sitting MP Sunil Soren, who had defeated JMM president Shibu Soren in the 2019 polls by a margin of 47,590 votes, will seek re-election from Dumka.

In a blow to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, three-term MLA and elder daughter-in-law of party patriarch Shibu Soren, Sita Soren joined the BJP on March 20 citing "isolation" and "neglect" by JMM since the death of her husband Durga Soren in 2009.

Dumka will go to polls on June 1.

In the two other seats of Chatra and Dhanbad, Kalicharan Singh and Dulu Mahato will contest respectively, the party announced.

In Chatra, the BJP reposed faith in Kalicharan Singh denying a ticket to the sitting MP Sunil Kumar Singh who won by a margin of 3.77 lakh votes. In Dhanbad too, the party dropped sitting MP Pashupati Nath Singh who has been representing the seat since 2009 and fielded Baghmara MLA Dulu Mahato.

Mr Mahato became an MLA in 2009 on the ticket of Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVM) of former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi. The man who has more than two dozen cases against him joined BJP in 2014.

Voting will be held in Chatra and Dhanbad on May 20 and May 25 respectively.

The BJP in its first list of Lok Sabha election candidates had named 11 nominees from Jharkhand including four new candidates - former Congress parliamentarian Geeta Kora (Singhbhum ST constituency), Rajya Sabha MP Samir Oraon, Tala Marandi and Manish Jaiswal.

The seven other candidates, announced earlier, will seek re-election from their respective constituencies. They include Union ministers Arjun Munda (Khunti ST) and Annapurna Devi (Koderma).

There are 14 parliamentary constituencies in Jharkhand and as per the seat-sharing arrangement between the BJP and the AJSU Party, the Giridih seat has been left for the AJSU Party.

At present, Giridih is represented by AJSU Party's Chandra Prakash Chaudhary.

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