The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Congress will contest the Assembly elections in an alliance, Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced on Saturday.

The two INDIA bloc parties will contest 70 seats out of the 81 Assembly constituencies, Hemant Soren told reporters. Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left parties will fight in the remaining 11 constituencies.

However, he said that he cannot at this moment provide details of how many seats each of the parties will contest.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal said it was unhappy with the seat-sharing arrangement.

“Last time we contested on seven seats because [party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav] had a big heart, his goal was to oust the BJP, and the goal is the same even today,” The Hindu quoted party leader Manoj Jha as saying. “We were runner-up on five seats. The rest of our alliance partners may not have been runners-up in percentage terms on that many seats.”

Jha added: “With a heavy heart, I must say that a unilateral decision was taken, we were asked that so and so number is given to us. This is not according to the strength of RJD nor according to the present situation. I will urge our alliance partners to make a decision accordingly.”

Voting in the Jharkhand polls will be conducted in two phases on November 13 and November 20. The counting of votes will take place on November 23, alongside that of the Maharashtra elections.

This came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party said that it will contest 68 out of the 81 seats in the Jharkhand polls. Its ally the All Jharkhand Students Union will fight in 10 constituencies.

While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) will contest in two constituencies, Union minister Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party faction will fight in one as part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

BJP’s candidate list

The BJP on Saturday released its list of candidates comprising 66 names.

The Hindutva party fielded former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi in Dhanwar. Former MP Geeta Koda will contest from Jagannathpur.

Sita Soren, the daughter-in-law of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren, was fielded in the Jamtara constituency. She had joined the BJP in March.

Former Chief Minister Champai Soren, who switched from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to the BJP, in August will fight the polls from his stronghold of Seraikella.

In the 2019 Assembly polls, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats while the Congress won 16 seats. Another ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, had clinched one seat. Hemant Soren became the chief minister of the coalition government.

The BJP, which was in power in the state between 2014 and 2019, had won 25 seats.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the National Democratic Alliance won nine of the 14 seats in Jharkhand. The Opposition INDIA bloc won five seats in the state.