No takers for BJP’s ‘infiltration’ narrative in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana, party reduced to 1 seat

The lone spot that the BJP won was Jarmundi, which its campaigner Devendra Kumar wrested from the Congress’s Badal by 17,546 votes.

Five years ago, the JMM won 9 seats, the Congress and the BJP 4 each, portion the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) of erstwhile CM Babulal Marandi emerged victorious successful Poreyahat.

Marandi merged the JVM with the BJP successful 2020, and with the AJSU Party excessively connected committee this time, the BJP hoped to amended its 2019 show successful the region, erstwhile it had won the seats of Rajmahal, Godda, Deoghar, and Sarath. However, its hopes were dashed aft the Congress’s Pradeep Yadav secured astir 53% of the votes and won Poreyahat portion the RJD won Godda and Deoghar, and the JMM won Rajmahal and Sarath.

Among the seats wherever the JMM got the amended of the BJP were each 7 ST-reserved seats successful the region. Chief Minister Hemant Soren retained Barhait with an accrued ballot stock of 59%, a leap from the 53.49% helium got successful 2019 portion his member Basant bettered his 2019 performance, winning Dumka with a 51.33% ballot share, up from the 49% helium got 5 years ago. In some seats, the BJP finished runner-up.

The BJP’s state AJSUP besides spot the particulate successful the lone spot it contested successful the region. In Pakur, wherever the BJP had alleged maximum demographic alteration owed to infiltration, the Congress’s Nisat Alam, the woman of jailed erstwhile curate Alamgir Alam, defeated the AJSUP’s Azhar Islam by much than 86,000 votes.

In the run-up to the Assembly polls, the BJP repeatedly raked up the contented of “Bangladeshi infiltrators” allegedly marrying tribal women, buying land, and usurping jobs of locals successful the Santhal Pargana region, comprising the six districts of Dumka, Jamtara, Godda, Sahebganj, Pakur, and Deoghar with BJP’s Jharkhand predetermination co-in-charge and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma starring the charge.

A BJP leader, speaking connected the information of anonymity, said the contented was brought up to unafraid the votes of tribals successful the region. “The results amusement that tribal and OBC voters successful the portion are not acrophobic astir this contented and are much disquieted astir their identity. No tribal person of the BJP oregon immoderate different enactment raised this issue. This shows that this contented means thing for the radical of Jharkhand,” the person said.

In September, a delegation of Jharkhand BJP leaders besides urged the Election Commission (EC) to guarantee that the alleged infiltrators are not allowed to vote. This came arsenic the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), successful an affidavit submitted to the Jharkhand High Court, said alleged infiltration by Bangladeshis had been taking spot since Independence. “Of late, the infiltrators preferred Sahibganj and Pakur districts owed to the communal dialect, which helped successful their integration,” the affidavit said.

In Jamtara, BJP bigwig and Hemant Soren’s estranged sister-in-law Sita tasted decision arsenic the Congress’s Irfan Ansari won by 43,676 votes. Like successful 2019, the JMM-Congress-RJD harvester besides won each the 9 Santhal Pargana seats bordering West Bengal, wherever the BJP had alleged demographic changes owed to infiltration.