LS polls: Congress likely to announce candidates for 4 Jharkand seats

The Congress is likely to announce the names of its candidates for Ranchi, Lohardaga, Khunti and Hazaribag Lok Sabha seats on Wednesday, a senior party leader said.

The names are likely to be announced after the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in New Delhi.

"The names of the candidates for Ranchi, Lohardaga, Khunti and Hazaribag Lok Sabha seats are likely to be announced today. We are going to participate in the meeting in Delhi, and the final list is likely to be issued after the CEC meeting and the screening committee meeting this evening," Congress legislature party leader Alamgir Alam told PTI before leaving for Delhi.

He said a final decision on seat sharing among the INDIA bloc allies is also likely to be taken during the day, and accordingly the names of candidates will be announced.

Leaders of the INDIA bloc said that a seat-sharing agreement has been finalised for all the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

As per the agreement, the Congress would contest seven seats, the JMM would fight in five constituencies, while the RJD and CPI(ML) would field candidates in the remaining two seats in Jharkhand, they said.

State Congress president Rajesh Thakur told PTI, "BJP is in a jittery state. Unable to find suitable candidates from their own ranks, they are banking on winning the elections in the name of Congress and JMM. They could not find candidates and hence embraced our leaders."

Thakur was hinting at Congress MP Geeta Kora and JMM MLA Sita Soren who joined the BJP and were fielded from the Singbhum and Dumka Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Hitting out at Congress, the BJP said once someone joins the saffron party, he or she becomes a member of it and it is the continued popularity of the party that leaders and workers from parties which accord priority...

A BJP spokesperson maintained that it was the development initiatives by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that people from all political parties were coming to its fold.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP secured 11 seats, while the AJSU Party, Congress, and JMM won one seat each in the state.

Jharkhand will vote for its 14 constituencies in four phases, starting on May 18.

The BJP has already announced candidates for 13 seats and as per seat-sharing left one seat Giridih for the AJSU Party, which at present is represented by AJSU Party's Chandra Prakash Chaudhary.

The BJP has fielded former JMM MLA and sister-in-law of former chief minister Hemant Soren from Dumka (ST) constituency replacing sitting MP Sunil Soren. The party had earlier announced Sunil Soren's name, who had defeated JMM president Shibu Soren in the 2019 polls by a margin of 47,590 votes, will seek re-election from Dumka.

The party reposed faith in Kalicharan Singh from Chatra, replacing sitting MP Sunil Kumar Singh and MLA Dulu Mahto from Dhanbad, dropping sitting MP Pashupati Nath Singh.

The party earlier 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).