Congress fields 15 of its 17 sitting MLAs in Jharkhand

NEW DELHI: The Congress has fielded 15 of its total 17 sitting MLAs in the first list of 20 party candidates for the Jharkhand assembly election. The two sitting MLAs whose seats have been put on hold for further discussions are Alamgir Alam and Umashanker Akela, who are embroiled in some cases.

The Congress central election committee’s decision on Monday late night to repose faith in most of the sitting MLAs also conveyed the message the party sought to avoid any risk of potential prepoll desertions by these legislators in a state known for political pole vaulters. Besides, it meant that the party, which is part of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)led ruling coalition in the state, was ready to face double incumbency of the coalition government and the sitting MLAs.

Recently, more than halfdozen sitting Congress MLAs were defeated in the Haryana polls, where the party had fielded all its 28 sitting MLAs.The first list of 20 candidates in Jharkhand included seven from seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the rest from the general category. The list also had five women, including former MLA Mamata Devi, who had been disqualified from the assembly a few years ago after her conviction in a criminal case but she recently got court relief to contest.

Among the sitting MLAs contesting the upcoming election are state ministers Rameshwar Oraon (LohardagaST), Banna Gupta (Jamshedpur West) and Badal Patralekh (Jamundi), All India Congress Committee functionary Ajoy Kumar and former BJP leader Jaya Prakash Patel.

As per the alliance arrangement, the Congress is contesting a total of 29 assembly seats in Jharkhand while ally JMM is contesting 41 constituencies, leaving the remaining 11 to be shared among smaller allies RJD, CPIML and perhaps CPI.