Despite returning to power for the second consecutive time with the spectacular performance of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led alliance in the Jharkhand Assembly elections, four key ministers of the Hemant Soren government faced a crushing defeat on Saturday.
The ministers who lost in the assembly elections include Health Minister Banna Gupta and Water Resources Minister Mithilesh Thakur, who created many controversies. The other two ministers include Education Minister Baidyanath Ram and Social Welfare Minister Baby Devi.
Devi’s department had launched the populist ‘Maiyan Samman Yojana’ which significantly contributed to the victory of the JMM-led alliance in the state. Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 1,000 is being provided to women in the age group of 18-50 years and the JMM-led alliance has promised to increase it to Rs 2,500 per month.
At present about 57 lakh women in Jharkhand are getting benefit from this scheme. Congress’s Banna Gupta lost the Jamshedpur West seat to Janata Dal-United’s (JD-U) Saryu Roy by 7,863 votes. JMM’s Mithilesh Kumar Thakur was defeated by BJP’s Satyendra Nath Tiwari in Garhwa by 16,753 votes.
JMM’s Baidyanath Ram, contesting from Latehar, lost to BJP’s Prakash Ram by a slim margin of 434 votes. In Dumri seat, JMM’s Baby Devi lost to Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM’s) Jairam Kumar Mahato by a margin of 10,945 votes.
Devi was inducted as a minister in April 2023 after the demise of her husband Jagarnath Mahato due to COVID-19 related complications. In Jharkhand, the JMM-led alliance retained power in the assembly elections by registering a landslide victory with 56 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had to be content with just 24 seats. 41 seats are required for majority in the state assembly. BJP won 21 seats and emerged as the second largest party in the state.
