Jharkhand Polls: Odisha Guv Raghubar Das’ Daughter-In-Law Reclaims Home Turf

Rachi/Bhubaneswar: Odisha Governor Raghubar Das’ daughter-in-law Purnima Das Sahu has won from Jamshedpur East Assembly seat in Jharkhand, synonymous with the family for over three decades.

She trounced her rival, Congress’ Ajoy Kumar, who is also the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Odisha, by 42,871 votes, according to the latest trends from the Election Commission of India.

The seat, a BJP bastion since 1990, saw a significant shift in 2019 when Raghubar Das, the first non-tribal CM of Jharkhand, was defeated by independent candidate Saryu Roy as the saffron party faced a setback with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance winning an absolute majority with 47 seats.

Das, a five-time MLA from this constituency, had served as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand from 2014 to 2019. He was appointed as the Governor of Odisha in 2023. There was speculation that Das might return to the electoral battle from the Assembly constituency again, and the BJP later nominated Purnima as its candidate from the seat.

Her candidacy, however, had sparked internal dissent within BJP with Shiv Shankar Singh, a prominent leader of the party, filing nomination as an independent. He finished third with 15,471 votes while Purnima polled 1,07,191 and Ajoy Kumar 64,320 votes.

Purnima had earlier told the media that her victory will give her an opportunity to restore and restart the pro-people and development works, laid by Das, who served the constituency for 25 years.

With vote counting underway for Jharkhand’s 81-Assembly constituencies, the Hemant Soren’s JMM-led alliance is ahead in 56 seats and the NDA in 24. Among the INDIA bloc parties, the JMM has won 20 and leading in 14 seats, the Congress has won in 10 and leading in 6 seats, the RJD won 1 and leading in 3 seats and the CPI(ML)(L) has won two seats.

In the NDA, the BJP has won 9 seats and leading in 12, while the LJP(RV) has won one seat and JD(U) leading in one. Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha has also won one seat and AJSU Party – AJSUP leading in one.