BJP wave in Jharkhand; bags 7 seats, leads in 6

The BJP in Jharkhand has fared as per expectations, winning in seven Lok Sabha constituencies and establishing comfortable lead in six others out of total 14 seats in the state.

First timers Bidyut Baran Mahto (Jamshedpur), Vishnu Dayal Ram (Palamau-SC), Jayant Sinha (Hazaribagh) Laxman Gilua (Singhbhum-ST) and former MPs Ram Tahal Choudhary (Ranchi) and Ravindra Kumar Pandey won comfortably.

According to Election Commission (EC) sources, Ram, the former Jharkhand Police chief, beat RJD's Manoj Kumar in Palamau by 2,62,456 votes from Palamau.

However, Palamau Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Kripanand Jha said he had sought permission from the EC to make a formal announcement of the result as one EVM was found defective, 'which makes no difference to the margin'.

BJP's state unit president Ravindra Kumar Rai wins the Koderma constituency, defeating CPI (ML Liberation) candidate Raj Kumar Yadav by over 90,000 votes, EC sources said.

The seat was held by former chief minister Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric).

In Jamshedpur, BJP's Bidyut Baran Mahto defeated sitting MP and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) Ajay Kumar by 99,874 votes while in Giridih, Pandey emerged victor, trouncing JMM MLA Jagannath Mahto by 40,307 votes.

In Ranchi, BJP's Ram Tahal Choudhary regained the seat, annihilating Union Minister and sitting Congress MP Subodh Kant Sahay by 1,99,303 votes.

Barring Sahay, all others lost deposit from Ranchi seat, Returning Officer V K Choubey said.

Sitting BJP MLA Laxman Gilua easily defeated Jai Bharat Samanta Party MLA and wife of former Chief Minister Madhu Koda, Gita Koda, by 87,476 votes.

In Hazaribagh, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's son, Jayant, defeated three-time Congress MLA Saurabh Narain Singh by a huge margin of about 1,59,000 votes and in Giridih, sitting BJP MLA Ravindra Kumar Pandey beat JMM MLA Jagannath Mahato by 40,307 votes.

Barring Dumka, where JMM supremo Shibu Soren is leading 33,322 votes, in the rest seven seats the saffron party has established comfortable leads.

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Karia Munda has expanded his lead over Jharkhand Party MLA Anosh Ekka from Khunti constituency.