Jharkhand Assembly elections 2019 held the marshal of “green revolution” wiping out the saffron mandate in the state. The coalition between Jharkhand Multi Morcha, Indian National Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal took on 47 seats (JMM 30, Congress 16 and RJD 1) out of 81. Hemant Soren swore as the Chief Minister after 2013 when his tenure lasted only for 14 months. The elections for the 81 Assembly constituencies were held in five phases. The results of Jharkhand’s election have set a major loss for BJP after the defeat in two consecutive states.
Amidst all the celebration, the emerging number of women from Jharkhand who won from their seats has doubled since 2014 assembly election. Out of 81 constituencies 10 seats are bagged by women. Four of them are from Indian national Congress, three from BJP and three from JMM. Let’s take a look at each one of them:
1. Purnima Singh (INC)
Contesting on Congress’s seat in Jharkhand Assembly elections, Purnima Singh had a tough fight between Ragini Singh from BJP. She won from 12,054 votes. With the total number of 294847 electors, Jharia is one of the richest coal mines in the country with the population of 4, 75,341 where the voters turn out were 65.17%.
2. Pushpa Devi (BJP)
Pushpa Devi, a BJP candidate defeated her opponent Vijay Kumar who is from RJD with 26918 votes. With the electoral count of 1, 62,802 votes, Chatarpur has ones again proved that first timers are always welcome in politics. Pushpa Devi is a social worker.
3. Amba Prashad (INC)
Amba Prasad is the youngest face in the Jharkhand legislative Assembly. UPSC aspirant who was continuing her studies in Delhi, joined politics when her family was under grave accusations. She fought from a Congress ticket defeating the opponent Roshanlal Chaudhary from AJSU. Holding an LLB degree, Amba is now looking for a position in cabinet. Her supporters have asked for the education portfolio.
4. Aparna Sengupta (BJP)
In her 50’s, Aparna has emerged Member of Legislative Assembly from Nirsa constituency. She took took a lead by 15,429 votes over CPI’s Arup Chatterjee who had won in 2014 assembly election. Aparna is a politically active leader who was a part of All India Forward Bloc before joining BJP in 2015. The total numbers of eligible electors are 3, 09,023 in which 1, 62,142 were male, 1,46,878 female and 3 voters of the third gender.
5. Mamta Devi (INC)
Mamta Devi won from the Ramgarh Constituency by defeating the 15 year long ruling of AJSU. Not long in 2015, she fought for the position of Zila Parishad of the Panchayat elections and entered politics by defeating the late Kalavati Devi of Chander Mahato, the strong leader of AJSU, by becoming a District Councilor. She then took active interest on small and big agitations on issues of public problems and displacement.
6. Joba Manjhi (JMM)
Located in West Singhbhum district, Manoharpur the rural population had a total of 1, 97,337 eligible electors. Joba Majhi has won by 16,019 votes by defeating BJP’s Gurucharan Nayak. Before this in 2014, she was the MLA of same constituency. Back in 2003, she was also the Minister of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development and Tourism till 2005, as a member of United Goans Democratic Party.
7. Jama Sita Murmu (JMM)
As a member of JMM, Sita Soren is an active social worker and an active politician. Jama is a part of Dumka Lok Sabha Constituency were a total of 2, 05,776 eligible electors, of which 1, 02,921 were male, 1, 02,855 female. The rural assembly seat is composed of tribal population. This is her second win from Jama constituency.
8. Koderma-Neera Yadav (BJP)
Dr. Neera Yadav was an education Minister in the BJP’s tenure of 2014-2019. Recently, she again marked her second won from Koderma constituency. She got 63,282 votes and won with a margin of 1650 votes in the Jharkhand Assembly elections while the RJD candidate Amitabh Kumar followed with 61632 votes. In Koderma out of total 3, 39,865 eligible electors, of which 1,77,739 were male, 1,62,122 female and 4 voters were of the third gender.
9. Sabita Mahto (JMM)
JMM candidate Sabita Mahato becomes the first woman MLA of Ichagarh by defeating her nearest rival Harelal Mahato of AJSU party by a total of 18,710 votes. Sabita Mahato got 57,546 votes and Harelal Mahato got 38,836 votes. The total of number of eligible electors are 2,60,035, of which 1,33,010 were male, 1,27,021 female and 4 voters of the third gender. Before this in 2014 assembly election, Sabita was in the second place with 30,384 votes
10. Deepika Pandey Singh (INC)
Deepika is a social worker and political active leader who won by 12,499 votes after defeating BJP’s Ashok Kumar, two times ex-MLA from Mahagama. Located in the Godda constituency of Jharkhand, Mahagama has total number of 2,97,227 eligible electors, of which 1,54,354 were male, 1,42,873 were female.
Active Women In Jharkhand Assembly Elections
Few of the women candidates were first timers in the Jharkhand Assembly elections and still defeated the long time MLA’s of a particular constituency. The participation of women in Jharkhand Assembly elections was also a matter of pride. While these ten women marked a mandate, few known faces from Jharkhand who took active participation and was fielded against the major face of BJP in the state.
One of them is Mahua Manjhi, a writer who dared the long term MLA of Ranchi Chandreshwar Prasad Singh. The difference between the two were of 4,500 votes. Mahua Manjhi, Jharkhand Women’s Commission chairperson has taken efforts on human trafficking and child labour. Other than this she also is an active leader who has always been there for people in need.
Other known face in Politics was Dayamani Barla, who was fielded by JVM on Khunti in 2019 assembly polls. Before in 2014, she was in the battle on an AAP ticket from the Khunti. Daymani Barla is one of the adivasi who actively participated in a movement to oppose India’s largest steel plant who were planning to displace thousands of native. She is also the first tribal journalist from the state who regularly protested again dams built on Koel and Kari rivers.
Dr. Louis Marandi- Being a state welfare minister in 2014-19, Louis has been into active politics. In the year 2014 she defeated Hemant Soren with 4914 votes but the recent Jharkhand Assembly Eelections had some other plan and she was defeated by a margin of 2,750 votes. Her defeat was a big loss for BJP. As a president of women wing of BJP Jharkhand, she is a very well known face in the state.
If we look deeply on the major issues of Jharkhand, employment is a priority. JMM- RJD- INC coalitions fought on the local issues of Jharkhand and were highlighting the grass root issues of the state.
