Jharkhand Assembly Election 2019: Congress questions five-phase polling, says BJP afraid of losing

The Congress party has exuded confidence that the grand alliance of opposition parties will dethrone the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jharkhand. Party’s Jharkhand unit working president Sanjay Paswan on Sunday questioned the Election Commission’s decision to hold elections in five phases. He said that the ruling BJP is afraid of defeat and elections are being held in five phases to help the saffron party.

“If they think we are afraid of the BJP, it is their misunderstanding. People of Jharkhand have seen them in the past five years. In fact, the BJP itself is afraid of losing and that is why elections are being held in five phases. Once they said they will remove ‘Naxalism’ (Maoism) from our state… When they claim it has been removed, then why are the elections being held in four-five phases,” Paswan said.

Congress-JMM-RJD alliance ‘Mahagathbandhan’ will come to power in Jharkhand, he claimed.

Asked why being a national party the Congress is contesting on a lesser number of seats than a regional party like the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Paswan replied, “Congress has always believed in coalition dharma. Wherever we think we are strong, we are contesting. We share the same ideology.”

As per the seat-sharing agreement in the grand alliance, the JMM is contesting 43 seats in the 81-member Legislative Assembly, the Congress 31 and the RJD on the remaining seven. Hemant Soren of JMM is the CM candidate of the alliance.

The state of Jharkhand will go to polls in five phases between November 30 and Jharkhand. Results will be announced on December 23.

When Paswan was asked about the rift within the NDA, he said that the Mahagathbandhan will not go with the AJSU even if they break with the BJP-led alliance. The BJP and AJSU are contesting against each other on at least 19 seats in the state. The LJP is also contesting alone this time. The AJSU and LJP were demanding more seats from the BJP to contest, but the saffron party couldn’t accommodate their demand.

“They (AJSU) are more or less the same. I feel after the results, they will again shake hands with them (BJP). We have seen them for last 19 years… We know about them,” he said.