Jharkhand: RJD fields Mamta Bhuiyan from Palamu Lok Sabha seat

Ranchi: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Jharkhand unit on Wednesday announced that Mamata Bhuiyan will be its candidate for the Palamu Lok Sabha constituency in the state.

As per a seat-sharing formula among the JMM-led alliance partners in the state, the RJD was allotted only the Palamu Lok Sabha constituency out of the 14 seats in the state.

Jharkhand RJD general secretary Kailash Yadav said that the party has declared Mamata Bhuiyan as its official candidate for the Palamu Lok Sabha seat.

Bhuiyan has recently switched to RJD from the BJP.

She will contest against the BJP's V D Ram in the seat. Ram a former Director General of Police, Jharkhand had won the seat in 2019 defeating RJD’s Ghuran Ram by a margin of 4.77 lakh votes.

According to the seat-sharing agreement, Congress will contest on seven seats and JMM on five. RJD and CPI (ML) were allotted one seat each.

The RJD was also bargaining for the Chatra seat till recently.

"We had demanded the Chatra seat but now Congress has announced its candidate. As a partner in the INDIA bloc, we will contest across Jharkhand being united and strong," Yadav told PTI.

The Congress on Tuesday announced the names of candidates for three more Lok Sabha constituencies - Godda, Chatra and Dhanbad.

Legislator Deepika Pandey Singh, Krishna Nand Tripathi and Anupama Singh will contest the polls in Godda, Chatra and Dhanbad, respectively, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal has said.

It announced the names of three candidates - Kalicharan Munda, Sukhdeo Bhagat and Jai Prakashbhai Patel on March 27 for Khunti (ST), Lohardaga (ST) and Hazaribagh constituencies, respectively.

Mahagama MLA Deepika Pandey Singh will contest against sitting BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, while Anupama Singh, the wife of Bermo MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh, will fight BJP's Baghmara legislator Dulu Mahto.

In Dhanbad, the saffron party had dropped sitting MP Pashupati Nath Singh, who has represented the seat since 2009 and fielded Mahato.

Jharkhand will vote for its 14 Lok Sabha seats in four phases, starting May 13.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP had secured 11 seats, while the AJSU Party, Congress, and JMM won one seat each in the state.

The BJP has already announced candidates for 13 seats and left Giridih for the AJSU Party.