Creating further rifts within the INDIA alliance, Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) announced on Saturday that it will contest the Bihar assembly elections independently.
JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said, "We will fight very strongly. We will not go for any 'friendly' fight. Enemy is enemy," he said as quoted by NDTV.
"Our workers have struggled in Bihar for the last 10 years. So for them, we will contest these polls. We also have some pressure from our organisation. Hence we have decided to go alone in the Bihar election," he added.
The party will contest six of the 243 assembly seats in the state. It will field candidates from Dhamdaha, Chakai, Katoria, Manihari, Jamui, and Pirpainti.
Bhattacharya claimed that the party had reached out to the INDIA alliance partners. However, despite these talks, no agreement was reached on seat-sharing.
Bhattacharya explained that the JMM had allotted several seats for the RJD and Congress in the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections.
"We didn't just give seats to RJD. Out of seven seats, only one winning candidate, from Chatra, was made a minister for five years," he added.
Meanwhile, the RJD and Congress have been unable to reach a consensus on seat sharing. Both parties have now begun fielding candidates independently, setting the stage for several “friendly contests” across the state.
NDA Seat-Sharing:
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on October 12 finalised its seat-sharing arrangement for the polls. The BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the BJP will contest 101 seats each.
Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (LJP-RV) will field its candidates on 29 seats, while Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) will contest six seats each.
Bihar is set to go to the polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with the results scheduled to be declared on November 14.
