Prof Gourav Vallabh to take on Jharkhand CM in Assembly polls

The Congress on Saturday announced the name of its national spokesperson Prof Gourav Vallabh from the Jamshedpur East seat for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Prof Vallabh has been pitted from the sitting seat of Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

Along with Prof Vallabh, Congress also announced the name of Mrs Mamata Devi, who has been fielded from the Ramgarh constituency.

While the Jamshedpur East seat will see polling in the second phase, the Ramgarh seat will see voting in the third phase.

Prof Gourav Vallabh, a former faculty member at the Xavier School of Management (XLRI) Jamshedpur had recently been in news for his debate with BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.

He had joined Congress in 2017 and had then participated in many TV debates and press conferences in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Raghubar Das on the other hand first won the Assembly elections from Jamshedpur seat in 1995 in undivided Bihar, a seat which he went on to win five more times.

Das went on to become the first non-tribal chief minister of Jharkhand and the only one to complete his full term.

Jharkhand will go to polls in five phases from November 30. The first phase of polling will be held on November 30, the second phase on December 6, the third phase on December 12, the fourth phase on December 16 and the last phase on December 20.

Congress has forged an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the state to defeat the incumbent BJP.

In 2014, the BJP, which won 43 seats formed the government along with All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU) which had won 5 seats and Raghubar Das took over as the Chief Minister.