Changing electoral landscape as lawmakers switch parties

By Manoj Pathak

Ranchi, Nov 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) With the announcement of Assembly elections in Jharkhand, the political parties have started working on fielding strong candidates, as the political landscape has changed completely since the last elections.

Leaders of almost all the political parties are switching parties as they have either been denied tickets or are fearing a loss in the polls. As these party hoppers change their bosses, they change their resolutions too.

This year, the electoral landscape in Jharkhand is also expected to change due to such leaders.

Prakash Ram, MLA from Latehar assembly constituency, contested the 2014 elections on the ticket of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) but this time he has switched to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Alok Chaurasiya, who won against K.N. Tripathi of the Congress, contested elections from Daltonganj on a JVM ticket but soon after the BJP government was formed he along with six other MLAs joined the BJP.

Similarly, former Congress leader Sukhdev Bhagat, MLA from Lohardaga, also joined the BJP.

Kamal Kishor Bhagat of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) was the MLA from Lohardaga assembly but after he was convicted in an attempt to murder case, Sukhdev Bhagat won the bypolls and became the MLA.

Vikas Munda formerly of AJSU, the MLA from Tamar constituency in Ranchi, has now joined the JVM and will be the party candidate from here.

Ganesh Ganjhu, who contested the elections from Simaria assembly seat in Chatra and defeated the BJP candidate on a JVM ticket in the last elections, has joined the BJP now.

The Chandankiyari assembly seat is one of the interesting battlegrounds this year. JVM's Amar Bauri, who defeated AJSU's Umakant Rajak in the 2014 Assembly elections, has now joined the BJP. Now, the AJSU, which is an ally of the BJP, is claiming the Chandankiyari seat hence it is still not clear who will get the ticket from here.

Former Congress MLA from Barhi assembly, Manoj Yadav, has also joined the BJP just before the elections.

Apart from this, the electoral landscape has completely changed in places like Hatia, Baharagora, Sarath, Barkatha and Bhawanathpur. Due to this, the parties are also not sure about ticket distribution.

Party hopping this time around has been so much that issues like nationalism, development, corruption, inflation etc. will be neglected once again. The results will tell which party will win Jharkhand's electoral battle riding on these party hoppers but one thing is sure that many equations will change.

Source: IANS