Former Jharkhand CMs won't contest Lok Sabha polls

Former Jharkhand chief ministers Arjun Munda and Babulal Marandi will not contest the April-May Lok Sabha elections, it was announced here Wednesday.

Marandi is a Lok Sabha member from Koderma.

Munda, a three-time chief minister and now leader of opposition, won the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat by over 100,000 votes in 2009.

He quit the Lok Sabha in February 2011 on being elected to the state assembly, after becoming the chief minister in September 2010.

"I have apprised the party about my decision not to fight the election," Munda told reporters, referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Marandi also announced he won't contest the general elections as he wants to focus on the upcoming assembly polls.

Marandi is president of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) and the chief ministerial candidate of the party.

He was the first chief minister of Jharkhand. He quit the BJP in 2006 and formed the JVM-P, which won 11 seats in the 2009 assembly poll.

Another former chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren will fight the Lok Sabha elections. He is Lok Sabha member from Dumka.