LS polls: Not Hemant, but Nalin Soren to fight BJP's Sita Soren in Dumka

Lok Sabha elections: The JMM has named Nalin Soren as its candidate for the Dumka constituency, where the BJP has fielded Hemant Soren's sister-in-law, Sita Soren

Jailed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Dumka constituency, confirmed the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Thursday.
 

The party has fielded its MLA Nalin Soren for the seat, who will compete against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and sister-in-law of the jailed CM, Sita Soren.

"The party has decided to field Nalin Soren from the Dumka seat and Mathura Prasad Mahto from Giridih," a JMM official stated.

Earlier, there were speculations that Hemant Soren might be pitted against Sita Soren in a key National Democratic Alliance (NDA) versus INDIA battle for the seat.

Hemant Soren in judicial custody

Hemant Soren is currently in judicial custody following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 31 in an alleged land scam in Jharkhand’s Ranchi.

The JMM leader resigned from his post the same day as his arrest, after which party leader Champai Soren took over as the CM of the JMM-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal coalition government.

Who is Sita Soren?

Sita Soren, a three-term MLA and elder daughter-in-law of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, joined the BJP last month. She will contest the polls from the Dumka constituency, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).

The newly inducted BJP leader is the widow of the late Durga Soren.

She was nominated as the candidate for the seat in place of sitting MP Sunil Soren. The BJP had initially re-nominated Sunil Soren but later withdrew his candidature to field Sita from there.

Sunil Soren had defeated the JMM president in the 2019 polls by a margin of 47,590 votes.

The polls to elect the 18th Lok Sabha will commence on April 19 over seven phases. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.