Jharkhand assembly election 2019: BJP reaches out to Sudesh Mahto's AJSU

With the trends of Jharkhand assembly election result showing that the state is heading towards a hung assembly, sources said that senior BJP leader are in touch with All Jharkhand Students Union chief Sudesh Mahto. As per the trends, AJSU is curently leading on eight seats, while the BJP is leading on 35 seats. The magic mark in Jharkhand is 41 seats and if BJP joins hands with AJSU then the alliance could form the next government.

It is interesting to note that AJSU had contested the 2014 election in alliance with the BJP and Mahto was the Deputy Chief Minister of state in Jharkhand goverment. The relation between AJSU and BJP, however, soured over seat distribution ahead of 2019 poll, forcing the AJSU to snap ties with the BJP. But now, AJSU is likely to emerge as the kingmaker and it seems that the BJP will go all out to mend ties with its old ally to retain power in Jharkhand.

On the other hand, the Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance is currently leading on 33 seats and Babulal Marandi's JVM has grabbed lead on three seats. It is quite possible that the JMM-led alliance would also get in touch with AJSU to form the government. 

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The counting of votes started at 8 AM on Monday (December 23). The polling in Jharkhand was held in five phases from November 30 to December 20. According to Election Commission, the counting is currently underway at all the 24 district headquarters and the counting is going on in tight security.

Jharkhand witnessed a keen battle between two national parties, the BJP and the Congress contesting with regional parties like AJSU Party, JMM, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and RJD. The JMM contested in 43 seats, Congress in 31 and the third partner in the alliance RJD fielded its candidates on seven seats.

It is to be noted that the BJP has fielded its candidates in 79 out of the 81 seats but the party did not field any candidate against AJSU chief Sudesh Mahto. The BJP has also supported a AJSU candidate in one seat.