The Jharkhand Assembly election has turned into an arena for political battles within families, with candidates pitted against their own flesh and blood. In some constituencies, a son takes on his father; in others, a wife contests against husband. And all that is apart from the slew of political in-laws on the ballot.
In Dhanbad’s Tundi Assembly seat, the sitting MLA is Mathura Prasad Mahato of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( JMM). He must defend his seat not just from the BJP candidate Vikas Kumar Mahato, but also from the challenge offered by his own son, Dinesh Mahato, who has filed his nomination as an Independent candidate.
The Jharia Assembly constituency will also see a father-son contest. Mohammad Rustam Ansari of the Jharkhand Loktantrik Kranti Morcha ( JLKM) has filed his nomination from the seat, while his son, Saddam Hussain alias Bunty, has also filed his papers as an Independent candidate.
The JLKM, led by Jairam Mahato, was formed just ahead of the Assembly election. The new outfit, however, has put seasoned parties on their guard in Jharkhand after its performed better than expected in the Lok Sabha election.
Spouses and in-laws
Another interesting fight is brewing in Jharia between two women who are cousins-in-law. The sitting MLA, Purnima Niraj Singh of the Congress, is the widow of the late Niraj Singh. Her rival is BJP candidate Ragini Singh, wife of former BJP MLA Sanjeev Singh.
Mr. Niraj Singh was murdered in 2017 while serving as a Deputy Mayor. His cousin and then-BJP MLA Mr. Sanjeev Singh was charged in the murder and sent to jail.
In the Gomia constituency, both Chittaranjan Sao and his wife, Sunita Devi, who is a Zila Parishad
president, have filed their nomination papers to contest as Independent candidates.
Though it is quite common to see the sons and daughter of politicians contest the polls, this election has an unusual number of in-laws in the fray as well.
The JMM’s Kalpana Soren and the BJP’s Sita Soren, the two daughters-in-law of JMM founder Shibu Soren, are contesting the election from Gandey and Jamtara Assembly constituencies, respectively.
Purnima Das Sahu, the daughter-in-law of Odisha Governor and former Chief Minister Raghubar Das, is contesting from the Jamshedpur East seat, which Mr. Das has represented five times. Ms. Sahu will face Congress candidate and former Jamshedpur SP Ajoy Kumar.
State Minister Satyanand Bhokta’s daughter-in-law Rashmi Prakash is contesting from Chatra on the ticket of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Savita Mahato, daughter-in-law of the late Nirmal Mahato who played a leading role in the Jharkhand movement, is contesting from the Ichagarh seat as a JMM candidate, while the Congress candidate from Mahagama is Deepika Pandey, the daughter-in-law of Awadh Bihari Singh, a strong leader from the erstwhile united State of Bihar.