Jharkhand Assembly Elections: Congress, Hemant Soren's JMM to contest 70 of 81 seats

Jharkhand Assembly Elections: The INDIA alliance will contest the upcoming Jharkhand assembly elections together, Chief Minister Hemant Soren declared on Saturday. He stated that the Congress and the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha would field candidates in 70 of the 81 assembly constituencies.

"We can't disclose the specifics of the seat-sharing right now. Our alliance partner is not present right now. When they arrive, we will finalise the number of seats and other aspects," Soren told reporters, adding that seat-sharing talks with other alliance partners - the RJD and the Left - are underway for the remaining 11 segments.

Jharkhand will vote in two stages, on November 13 and 20. The votes will be counted on November 23.

In the last elections, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) ran for 43 seats, while the Congress ran for 31. However, sources estimate that the Congress will win between 27 and 28 seats this time around. The JMM is anticipated to boost its share since it believes Hemant Soren is a major figure in Jharkhand, and the grand alliance will receive votes based on his name, they said.

According to sources, the Communist Party of India (M-L) and the Marxist Coordination Committee (MMC) intend to join forces with the JMM and Congress in this election. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which contested seven seats in the previous assembly elections, is anticipated to contest fewer seats this time and agree to hand over the Bagodar seat to the CPI (M-L) and Nirsa to the MMC, they added.