Silli Assembly Elections 2019: AJSU's Sudesh Mahto wrests home constituency from JMM, defeats Seema Devi by 20,195 votes

Silli Assembly Elections 2019 | Despite emerging the largest party in Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha failed to retain the prestigious Silli Assembly constituency. AJSU leader Sudesh Kumar Mahto wrested the seat from JMM by defeating the party’s candidate Seema Devi, becoming Silli MLA for the fourth time. Mahto won the seat by a margin of 20,195 votes. Assembly constituency number 61, Silli belongs to Ranchi Lok Sabha constituency in the district by the same name. The electoral contest here will be keenly watched as it is the traditional seat of All Jharkhand Students Union Party’s chief Sudesh Mahto. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has fielded Seema Devi in the polls. Silli was the only constituency where the BJP, which engaged in a ‘friendly contest’ on almost all other seats with AJSU, didn’t field a candidate. AJSU returned the favour, by keeping its candidate away from Jamshedpur East, which chief minister Raghubar Das lost against ex-BJP leader Saryu Roy. The seat went to polls on 12 December in the third phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections. Results in the past three years JMM’s Amit Kumar had won the Silli Assembly Constituency in the 2014 Assembly election. He had defeated Mahto with more than 29,700 votes. Before this, Mahato had been a three-time MP since 2000 (when the state was still a part of Bihar). In 2005, the first elections in Jharkhand, he beat JMM’s Kumar with over 19,000 votes. He again defeated Kumar in 2010 with 37,966 votes. However, the latter managed to wrest the seat in 2014 and registered a win with more than 29,000 votes. Following is a brief description of the Assembly constituency: Constituency number: 61 Voter turnout in last Assembly Election: 67.38 percent Male voters: 1,04,271 Female voters: 1,01,375 Total voters: 2.05,648 Major parties in the fray: The AJSU, JMM, JVM(P) and the BSP were the main parties from the seat. In 2014, the BJP had won 37 seats, while its ally AJSU secured a win in five Assembly seats. It formed government in 2014 with Raghubar Das as the chief minister. Among the Opposition parties, the RJD, Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have formed an alliance for the polls under the leadership of JMM chief Hemant Soren. Soren is also the Opposition Alliance’s chief ministerial candidate.   The state has a total number of 2,08,52,808 electors, including Service Voters. As per the electoral rolls in January 2019, there are 1.18 crore male voters, 1.08 crore female voters and 40,336 service voters. The number of polling stations in 2014 were 24,803. The 82-member Jharkhand Assembly was held in five phases between 30 November and 20 December with the counting of votes scheduled to take place on 23 December.