25 candidates are in the fray for the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat in the voting to be held on May 25. But the main contest is between BJP candidate Vidyut Varan Mahto and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate Samir Mohanty. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, these two leaders were together, but in the election battle held after 5 years, these two friends have become enemies of each other and are pleading in the court of the public.
Jamshedpur has been known as an industrial city. Due to many small and big industries like Tata Steel Plant and Tata Motors, the population of workers is the highest here. This place has also been the workplace of many great labour leaders. But till now, only once in 1984, labour leader and General Secretary of Telco Workers Union Gopeshwar has won the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat. He died in 2008. Since then, no labour leader has been able to go to the Lok Sabha from Jamshedpur.
There are 6 assembly seats in Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency- Jamshedpur East, Jamshedpur West, Ghatshila, Baharagora, Potka and Jugsalai. Out of these, Ghatshila, Baharagora, Potka and Jugsalai are in the possession of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-JMM. While Jamshedpur West seat is in the possession of Congress and Jamshedpur East is in the possession of an independent MLA. In this respect, the dominance of India alliance is visible here. But out of the 18 Lok Sabha elections held so far in Jamshedpur, the Bharatiya Janata Party has won the most 6 times, Congress 4 times and JMM 3 times. Here BJP is the only party which has scored a hat-trick of victory 2 times.
Who is Vidyut Varan Mahato?
Jamshedpur’s current BJP MP Vidyut Varan Mahto started his political journey from JMM. Mahto was elected MLA from Baharagora in 2009 on a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ticket. But in 2014, he left JMM and joined BJP and became an MP from Jamshedpur after winning the Lok Sabha elections. At that time, he defeated Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-JVM candidate Dr. Ajay Kumar by 99,876 votes.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Vidyut Varan Mahto defeated the then Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren by a huge margin of 3,02,090 votes. Then BJP got 6,79,632 i.e. 59.39 percent votes. Whereas JMM got only 3,77,542 i.e. 32.99 percent votes. Not only this, apart from these two, the deposits of the remaining 19 candidates were forfeited. Looking at the record of the last two spectacular victories, BJP candidate Vidyut Varan Mahto is leaving no stone unturned to score a hattrick of victories this time.
When friends become enemies!
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the current JMM candidate Sameer Mohanty was in the BJP. At that time, he had put in all his efforts to ensure the victory of BJP candidate Vidyut Varan Mahto. But during the 2019 assembly elections, he left the BJP and joined the JMM and became the MLA of Baharagora on the ticket of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Now the political situation has become such that 5 years ago, Sameer Mohanty had sought the blessings of the people for the victory of Vidyut Varan Mahto, but this time Sameer Mohanty has stood up against the same Mahto. Which of these two leaders, who have come out of the soil of Baharagora and entered the world of politics, will win? This will be decided only in the court of the people of Jamshedpur.
Journey of politics from Baharagora
The political journey of Jamshedpur’s BJP candidate Vidyut Varan Mahto and JMM candidate Samir Mohanty was not easy. Both these leaders belonging to Baharagora faced failure in the beginning. As a JMM candidate, Vidyut Varan Mahto lost the assembly elections from Baharagora seat in 2000 and 2005. His luck changed when he won the assembly elections for the first time in 2009. In 2014, he left JMM and joined BJP and reached the Parliament by winning the Lok Sabha elections.
Samir Mohanty also lost the assembly elections from Baharagora for three consecutive times in 2005, 2009 and 2014. But in 2019, he contested the assembly elections on a JMM ticket and won for the first time. Now he is trying his best to make it to the Lok Sabha on a JMM ticket. His morale has been boosted by the support of Jamshedpur East’s independent MLA Saryu Rai. While the star campaigners of both the parties have held several election rallies to ensure the victory of both. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself held a rally in Maubhandaar for the BJP candidate. While from Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have held rallies for JMM candidate Samir Mohanty.
Caste equation of Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency has 12 percent Kshatriya and Muslim voters. The population of tribal voters is 10 percent and Kurmi voters are 8 percent. Apart from this, Vaishya, Odia and Bengali voters also dominate. 50 percent of the voters of Jamshedpur Lok Sabha live in the city. BJP has been getting the benefit of this. It is said that the Vaishya and upper caste voters of Jamshedpur have been inclined in favor of BJP, while tribal and Mahato voters have been voting every time based on the situation. In the 2009, 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the blessings of Kurmi voters were with the BJP candidate. Therefore, BJP won all three times. But in this election, Kurmi voters are said to be angry with BJP as the demand for ST status remained unheard. This time JMM wants to take advantage of this anger of the Kurmi community against BJP.
Tags: Jamshedpur Lok Sabha election, Jamshedpur News, Jharkhand news, Lok Sabha Elections
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 24, 2024, 15:11 IST