Jharkhand Assembly election: Congress releases final list; BJP announces 5th list

New Delhi: For the five-phase Jharkhand Assembly elections, slated to vote on November 30, the Congress party on Friday (November 22) announced its final list of candidates. The list included three names of Yogendra Baitha from Simaria, Basudev Verma from Bagodar and Sweta Singh from Bokaro seat.

As part of Gathbandhan, the Congress has decided to contest from 31 seats in the state Assembly election, while the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is fighting on 43, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal on 7 seats. 

The Congress has met with a setback as former state chief Pradeep Balmuchu resigned from the party and joined the All Jharkhand Students Union. Balmuchu was miffed by denial of ticket.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also announced its 5th list of candidates today. The names of candidates are: Beni Prasad Gupta from Pakud; Loknath Mahto from Badgaon; Rananjay Kumar from Ramgarh; Pradeep Sahu from Dumri; Laxman Nayak from Gomia; Vikram Pandey from Tudu; Devendra Singh from Jamshedpur West; and Samri Lal from Kanke constituency.  

BJP raises conversion issue ahead of polls

With just a few days left for the Jharkhand polls, the BJP has once again raised the issue of conversion. In order to stop conversions, Nishikant Dubey, the BJP MP from Godda, suggested that the Central government deny such people the benefits of reservation.

Raising the issue in Parliament on Wednesday, the BJP MP urged the Modi government to take stringent steps regarding the same. His tweet over the issue is also going viral on social media.

Dubey in Lok Sabha said, "Only three per cent of the tribals converted till 1947 in Jharkhand. A law was made in 1937 which said that anyone can get converted but he/she has to inform the Collector about the same. But after independence, 20 per cent of the total ST population has been converted. Almost 1.5 crore people across the country have been converted."

Citing the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the Constituent Assembly, Dubey said that the culture of the ST has changed completely.