RANCHI: The diminishing Modi magic was reflected in Jharkhand as the BJP-led NDA managed nine Lok Sabha seats out of 14 in the state: BJP won eight and its alliance partner, Ajsu Party, retained its single seat.
The INDIA bloc, on the other hand, increased its tally to five from two in 2019. All the tribal reserved seats went to the INDIA bloc, with analysts saying the ED action against JMM working president and former CM Hemant Soren did not go down well with tribal voters. JMM won Dumka, Singhbhum and Rajmahal seats; it was successful in tapping tribal sentiment as the BJP-led govt at the Centre refused to include a separate Sarna Code in the census register.
The Sarna Code refers to a proposal for a separate religious code for tribal communities in India who follow Sarna, or nature worship.
BJP had fielded Shibu Soren's elder daughter-in-law, Sita Soren, from Dumka, but she was defeated by JMM's Nalin Soren by 22,527 votes. In Singhbhum, the saffron party fielded Congress turncoat Geeta Kora but she, too, lost, to JMM's Joba Majhi, by 1,68,402 votes. The case was the same in Rajmahal where JMM's Vijay Kumar Hansdak retained the seat, defeating BJP's Tala Marinade by 1,78,264 votes.
Congress also succeeded in tribal reserved seats - Khunti and Lohardaga, where Kalicharan Munda trounced Union agriculture-cum-tribal-welfare minister Arjun Munda by 1,49,675 votes and Sukhdeo Bhagat defeated Samir Oraon by 1,36,427 votes.
BJP's charisma continue to have effect in the urban pockets of Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Hazaribag and Godda. It also registered victories in Palamu, Chatra and Koderma, while partner Ajsu Party retained Giridih.
Union junior minister Annapurna Devi was successful, defeating Vinod Singh of CPI (ML) in Koderma by 3,76,240 votes.
For BJP, changing candidates proved expensive as the winning margin, vote share and number of seats dropped in comparison to the previous election.
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