Jharkhand polls: Key contenders to watch in election showdown

Jharkhand’s incumbent chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader, Hemant Soren, is seeking to retain his position in the upcoming elections. Leading the ruling alliance, Soren has been announced as the candidate from the Barhait seat. He also serves as the working president of the JMM. (File photo)

The BJP has fielded its state president and Jharkhand’s first chief minister, Babulal Marandi, as its candidate from Dhanwar in the state assembly elections. Marandi, who was also the founder and national president of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), later merged his party with the BJP. (File photo)

Tribal leader and former chief minister Champai Soren has been nominated by the BJP to contest from his native Seraikella. Recently, Soren left the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to join the BJP, marking a significant shift in Jharkhand's political landscape. Once a close aide to JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, he is now set to compete against the JMM-led alliance as one of the prominent faces in Jharkhand politics. (File photo)

The Jamshedpur West Assembly constituency is poised for a high-stakes contest in the 2024 elections, with Saryu Roy of the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) set to face off against Congress’s Banna Gupta. In the 2019 elections, Gupta secured 96,778 votes. Prior to the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly elections, Gupta had left the BJP and contested as an independent from Jamshedpur East, where he won by defeating the then-incumbent Chief Minister Raghubar Das. (File photo)

Basant Soren, a leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), is son of JMM president Shibu Soren and the younger brother of chief minister Hemant Soren. He has been nominated by the JMM to contest from the Dumka constituency in the ongoing state assembly elections. (File photo)

Sita Murmu, also known as Sita Soren, is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader currently serving as a member of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from the Jama constituency. The daughter-in-law of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren and wife of the late Durga Soren, she has now been fielded by the BJP from the Jamtara constituency. (File photo)

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has nominated Mahua Maji, a Rajya Sabha member, as its candidate from the Ranchi constituency in the state assembly elections. Maji will be contesting against BJP's incumbent MLA C P Singh, who has held the Ranchi seat for six consecutive terms, making it a BJP stronghold. Maji, who holds a PhD in sociology, has been active in parliamentary discussions. (File photo)

One of the most closely watched contests in the state assembly polls is in the Jamshedpur West constituency, where Banna Gupta, the incumbent health minister from Congress, is up against a strong challenge from Saryu Roy of the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)). (File photo)

Karnataka-born Ajoy Kumar, widely known as an encounter specialist and former SP of Jamshedpur, begins his day meeting people and supporters at his residence. The Jamshedpur East assembly seat, once a stronghold of Raghubar Das, has long been a focal point of political interest. This year, the Congress has fielded Kumar as its candidate from Jamshedpur East. (File photo)

Former MP Geeta Koda, wife of ex-Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, has been nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to contest from Jagannathpur. Koda began her political journey by winning the Jagannathpur assembly seat in 2009 and reclaimed it in 2020 after a defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by a BJP candidate. Previously associated with the Jai Bharat Samanta Party, she later joined Congress before switching to the BJP on February 26, 2024. (File photo)