The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in eight Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, with its ally AJSU Party leading in one seat. The Congress was ahead in two seats, and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in three seats, as reported by officials.
Union Minister Arjun Munda, the sitting MP, was trailing behind Congress’s Kalicharan Munda in the Khunti Lok Sabha seat by approximately 1.20 lakh votes, according to the Election Commission.
In Singhbhum, JMM’s Joba Manjhi was leading by 89,829 votes over her closest competitor Geeta Kora of the BJP.
Geeta Kora, the wife of former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, recently joined the BJP just before the Lok Sabha polls. She was the only Congress MP in the state.
Former Director General of Police and sitting BJP MP VD Ram was leading by 2.26 lakh votes over Mamta Bhuiyan of RJD in Palamu, on his way to victory. In a close contest in Dumka, BJP’s Sita Soren, a three-time JMM legislator, was trailing by 7,893 votes against JMM’s Nalin Soren, after initially leading.
Sitting BJP MP Nishikant Dubey was leading by 56,993 votes over Pradeep Yadav of the Congress in Godda.
BJP’s Bidyut Baran Mahto was ahead by 1.64 lakh votes in Jamshedpur against JMM’s Samir Kumar Mohanty.
Union Minister Annapurna Devi was leading by 1.37 lakh votes in Koderma against CPI (ML) Liberation’s Vinod Kumar Singh.
BJP’s Manish Jaiswal was leading in the Hazaribag seat against Congress’s JP Patel by 1.30 lakh votes.
JMM’s Vijay Hansdak was leading by 40,881 votes against BJP’s Tala Marandi in the Rajmahal (ST) seat.
AJSU Party’s CP Chaudhary was leading by 66,941 votes in Giridih against Mathura Mahto of JMM.
In Giridih, supporters of Jharkhand Bhasa Khatiyan Sangarsh Samiti (JBKSS) clashed with AJSU Party supporters during the eighth round of counting over alleged irregularities, leading to police intervention.
In Lohardaga, Congress’s Sukhdeo Bhagat was ahead by 64,862 votes against BJP’s Samir Oraon.
In Dhanbad, BJP’s Dulu Mahto was leading by 1.10 lakh votes over Congress’s Anupama Singh.
BJP’s Sanjay Seth was ahead by 1.03 lakh votes against Congress’s Yashaswini Sahay in Ranchi.
Chatra Lok Sabha seat saw BJP’s Kalicharan Singh leading by 67,425 votes over Congress’s KN Tripathi.
Counting of votes began at 8 am for 14 Lok Sabha seats and one assembly by-election in Jharkhand with heavy security. A total of 244 candidates are contesting.
According to Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar, Chatra and Koderma will have 27 rounds of counting each, while Khunti will have 16 rounds. The Gandey assembly by-election will have 24 rounds of counting.
Nine sitting MPs and 12 MLAs are participating in the parliamentary polls in Jharkhand.
In Chaibasa, a poll staff member fainted due to heat and was taken to a hospital.
Overall, a turnout of 66.19 per cent was recorded in the four phases of voting in Jharkhand from May 13 to June 1.
In the 2019 polls, BJP won 11 out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats, while AJSU Party, Congress, and JMM each won one seat.
