BJP sweep jolts Jharkhand parties
The Jharkhand parties received a severe jolt in their own bastion while the Bharatiya Janata Party continued its dominance, by winning 12 out of 14 seats in the general election in the region.
Rajmahal went in favour of the BJP.
Registering a record-breaking slender nine-vote win by its candidate Som Marandi over sitting MP Thomas Hansda of the Congress, the BJP managed to maintain its tally, despite losing the Lohardagga and Singhbhum seats.
The slogan of 'Jharkhand' was overpowered by 'Vananchal'
as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren) was routed by the BJP.
The last nail in the JMM (Soren) coffin was driven by
the BJP's Vananchal Committee president Babulal Marandi who defeated JMM (S) president and 'Disan Guru' Sibu Soren by 24,000 votes. Soren had defeated Marandi in the 1996 election by 5,000 votes.
Besides Soren, heavyweights like JMM (S) vice-president Suraj
Mandal, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former minister Uday
Narayan Chowdhary faced defeat at the hands of the BJP.
State BJP president and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha won the Hazaribagh seat by more than 100,000 votes.
The only woman candidate, Abha Mahato, won the Jamshedpur seat, defeating corporate legend Russi Mody by 97,429 votes.
Political analysts felt that, though the BJP swept this tribal
region, it was not a reflection of the 'adivasi' mandate as the
non-tribal population had surpassed the tribal population as per
the 1991 census.
Yet, the BJP's sweep in the region bore greater significance this time than in the 1996 election because parties such as the Congress, the JMM and the RJD had forged an alliance to check
the BJP.
UNI
Elections '98
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