Ranchi: The Congress party has announced its first list of 21 candidates for the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, released late Monday night. Reports indicate that the party has renominated its sitting MLAs for 18 constituencies, excluding Mandu, Hazaribagh, and Jamshedpur East.
Notably, senior Congress leader Ajoy Kumar, who serves as the party’s person in charge of Tripura, Odisha, and Nagaland, will be contesting from the Jamshedpur East seat. Kumar, a former police officer and past Lok Sabha MP from Jamshedpur is making his debut in the Assembly polls.
The party has also nominated Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon to contest from the Lohardaga seat, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Oraon, another former police officer, has previously held the position of Jharkhand Congress Chief.
In addition, Shilpi Neha Tirkey, the current MLA from the Mandar (ST) constituency, has been fielded for re-election. Her father, Bandhu Tirkey, serves as the chairman of the Congress’s manifesto committee for the Jharkhand elections.
The candidate selections were finalized during a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee, attended by top leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress is currently in an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and shares power in the state. Voting for the 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand will take place in two phases on November 13 and 20, with results expected to be announced on November 23.
Congress Party Candidates List
Ajay Kumar Jamshedpur East
Shipli Neha Tirkey Mandar (ST)
Rameshwar Oraon Lohardaga
Irfan Ansari Jamtra
Badal Patralekh Jamundi
Pradeep Yadav Poreyahat
Deepika Pandey Singh Mahagama
Amba Prasad Sahu Barkagaon
Mamta Devi Ramgarh
Jai Prakash Patel Mandu
Munna Singh Hazaribagh
Kumar Jai Mangal Bermo
Purnima Niraj Singh Jharia
Jaleshwaro Mehato Baghmara
Banna Gupta Jamshedpur West
Sona Ram Sinku Jaganathpur (ST)
Rajesh Kachhap Khijri (ST)
Ajay Nath Sahdeo Hatia
Bhushan Bara Simdega (ST)
Naman Viksal Kongari Kolebira (ST)
Ramchandra Singh Manika (ST)
