Jharkhand Election 2024: In the Jharkhand assembly elections, Chief Minister Hemant Soren has once again contested from Barhet assembly seat. He had won the election from the same seat in the 2019 assembly elections also. However, this time a controversy has arisen regarding his age. His age has increased by seven years in five years.
In his affidavit in the 2019 elections, Hemant Soren had stated his age as 42 years, whereas in the affidavit filed with the nomination papers of 2024, his age has been stated as 49 years. In this way, Soren’s age has increased by seven years in five years, a controversy has arisen and questions are being raised about it.
Soren is contesting from Barhet assembly seat.
Barhat Assembly seat located in Sahibganj Legislative District is considered to be the stronghold of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been winning this assembly seat since 2014. After winning the election from this seat in 2019, he became the Chief Minister of the state. During the 2019 assembly elections, Chief Minister Hemant Soren had contested on two seats. Along with Barhet, he was also a candidate from Dumka seat. He had won at both the places. Later he resigned from Dumka seat. His younger brother Basant Soren was elected from this seat in the by-election.
BJP has fielded Gamaliel Hembram against Chief Minister Soren. Till date, BJP has not been able to win in Barhet assembly constituency. However, due to Hembram’s popularity among the youth, BJP has placed bets on him this time. Barhet assembly seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes and voting on this seat is going to be held on November 20.
BJP raised questions on wrong affidavit
This time a controversy has arisen in Barhet regarding the nomination of Hemant Soren because his age has increased by seven years in the last five years. BJP has raised questions on the wrong affidavit of Hemant Soren. Jharkhand State President of BJP Babulal Marandi said that Hemant Soren has always been doing the same. We have informed the Election Commission about this mistake. At least the affidavit should be filed properly.
Assam Chief Minister and Jharkhand BJP co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma has also raised this issue. However, he said that Hemant Soren’s nomination should not be canceled because the public itself is going to defeat him in this assembly election.
JMM retaliated
On the other hand, after the controversy regarding Hemant’s age, the statement of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has also come out. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Manoj Pandey said that his party does not hide any fact. All the documents have been filed. At the time when the documents were filed, the returning officers were silent, now BJP is busy in plotting the possibility of defeat.
He said that BJP people have been committing fraud, not us. He said that many BJP leaders file fake degrees in the documents. However, he did not give a direct answer as to how Soren’s age increased by seven years in the span of five years.
