BJP wins just 2 of 28 tribal seats

RANCHI: BJP suffered a humiliating defeat in 37 of the 81 seats that were reserved for scheduled tribes (ST) and scheduled castes (SC) despite rolling out several populist schemes in five years. The

Raghubar Das

government’s attempts to amend pro-adivasi tenancy laws and enactment of the anti-religious conversion Act, which caused a divide between tribals and Christian tribals, proved to be his undoing.


On the other hand, the JMM-Congress-RJD mahagathbandhan that invoked the issues of jal, jungle and jameen to counter BJP’s pan-India promise struck a chord with voters in tribal heartlands.

Of the 28 ST seats, BJP won only two (Khunti and Torpa in the Pathalgarhi epicentre of

Khunti district

) due to division of votes, while JMM and Congress combined bagged 19 and six seats, respectively.

Babulal Marandi

’s JVM-P managed to win one. BJP’s only solace came in two ST seats of Khunti.

In Santhal Parganas, a JMM stronghold with one SC and seven ST seats, BJP lost all seven tribal seats but retained

Deoghar

, which is reserved for SC candidates. Of the 10 reserved seats in Kolhan, another tribal-dominated pocket, BJP lost all nine ST seats while its estranged ally JMM was leading in the lone SC seat of

Jugsalai

, represented by BJP’s estranged ally Ajsu Party.

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