New Delhi,November 04(HS)The BJP will fire all cylinders to ensure that there was no action replay of Haryana in Jharkhand where five-phase Assembly election will begin this month.
The mood is upbeat in the party because it has provided a stable government in the state for the first time after 2000 when it was carved out from Bihar. No other government formed before 2014 could complete its five-year term.
Chief minister Raghubar Das and other party leaders hope in this light that the BJP would do much better in this poll than the previous one.Some of them have already claimed that it would get 65 of the total 81 elective seats.
Eight governments were formed since existence before the present one which clearly indicated that Jharkhand needed political stability more than many other states. Das provided it which has kept him in good stead.
The party will fight election again under his leadership which will put it above others.The Congress and the JMM are the other major political players in the state.
He is a non-tribal though the state is tribal-dominated.The BJP in 2014 wanted to break the old tradition of choosing a member from the dominant caste or group for chief ministerial position.In view of this it had fallen for a non-Marathi in Maharashtra, a non-Jat in Haryana and a non-tribal in Jharkhand.
As the experiment has been successful,there was no need for the party to make a change in Jharkhand. It has,therefore,declared Das the chief ministerial candidate.
The first Assembly election was held in Jharkhand in 2005 in which the BJP had vote-share of nearly 24 per cent .The share increased to 31 per cent in the previous poll( 2014).It showed that many tribals also voted for the party.The tribals account for 24 per cent of the population.
The JMM came second.The Congress held the third position with 12 per cent share in 2005.The Congress share increased to 16 per cent in the next poll only to fall to 11 per cent in 2014.
The voter turnout increased by ten per cent ( to 66.42 per cent) in 2014 Assembly poll .If the BJP wins again it will be much ahead of its main rival,the JMM. The latter has formed government four times as against five by the BJP.
The state has been under President’s rule thrice
