Jharkhand verdict has a message for turncoats — don’t switch sides just before polls

Jharkhand verdict shows most candidates who changed loyalties just before polls were rejected by voters. But those who switched parties much before have won.

AJSU’s Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu, who had defected from the Congress, lost from Ghatshila | Facebook

New Delhi: The Jharkhand election results seem to have given a message to the turncoats — if you want to switch your loyalty to another party, do it much before the elections. The chances of rejection are quite high otherwise.

The Jharkhand verdict, which came out Monday, show most of the candidates who switched sides just before the elections have lost.

Take the example of Kunal Shadangi from Baharagora. He left the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) just before the elections to join the BJP, but the voters rejected him. Shadangi lost by over 60,000 votes to JMM’s Samir Kumar Mohanty. 

Similarly, Sukhdeo Bhagat joined the BJP from the Congress days before the elections and lost from Lohardaga. Bhagat, who won 25.37 per cent of the vote, lost to Congress’ Rameshwar Oraon, who scored 42.67 per cent.

Another candidate from Chakradharpur, Shashibhushan Samad, who quit the JMM and joined Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) before the elections, lost to JMM’s Sukhram Oraon by over 26,000 votes.

BJP’s Manoj Yadav, who lost from Barhi, had also changed sides from the Congress, before the elections.

Similarly, former Jharkhand Congress president and three-term MLA Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu, who had joined the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), lost from Ghatshila.

A senior BJP leader pinned the blame on outgoing Chief Minister Raghubar Das, who kept everyone out of the ticket distribution process.

“We were kept out of the ticket distribution process. Everything was done by the chief minister. Voters are well-versed with politics and they understand that those who switch sides days before elections can’t be trusted,” said the leader, who didn’t wish to be named.

There were, however, a few candidates, who won despite changing sides before the polls. BJP’s Jai Prakash Bhai Patel, who defected from the JMM, won from Mandu by a little more than 2,000 votes.

Old turncoats won

The election results showed that candidates who changed loyalties much before the elections went on to win from their seats.

Four JVM(P) candidates — Naveen Jaiswal (Hatia), Amar Kumar Bauri (Chandankiyari), Alok Kumar Chourasia (Daltonganj), Ranjit Singh (Sarath) — had quit the party in 2015 to join the BJP. All of them won in this election.

On Monday, Jharkhand became the third state, after Maharashtra and Haryana, in a span of a few months to throw up an embarrassing result for the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

In Maharashtra and Haryana too, the turncoats had to see rejection by the voters.

The BJP won 25 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, while the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance got 47 seats, way ahead of the majority mark.