Jharkhand election: Tough contest between Congress, BJP in Daltonganj; Modi deciding factor

Daltonganj, along with 12 other constituencies, is set to go to polls on November 30 as part of Phase 1 of the state Assembly polls. Residents say Congress nominee K M Tripathi is more popular in these parts than BJP’s Alok Chaurasia.

The priest says, “This temple was in a dilapidated condition, and Tripathi funded it and now we have solid structure. Chauraisa is not popular here. Despite what Tripathi has done, we will not vote for any candidate this time, but for our PM who has implemented a lot of schemes where people have been benefited.”

Sanjay Vishwakarma, a businessman, says, “Because of Modi we have double benefits. Although we don’t like the candidate (Chauraisa), we will respect what (BJP) has decided.”

The Daltonganj constituency has around 3.5 lakh voters, and in the last election in 2014, Tripathi lost to Chauraisa — then with the JVM(P) — by a margin of 4,300 votes. After the polls, Chauraisa switched over to the BJP.

This year, the candidates remain same, but the election seems to be fought on the image of the government at the Centre.

A resident who wished to remain anonymous said, “Since the last few days, top BJP leaders like PM Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh have campaigned in the area for first phase. Who are the big names from Congress?”

However, not all buy into the argument. A vegetable vendor and his customer both disagree that BJP has a clear mandate. The customer says, “Many upper-class voters are against the BJP this time, partly because of Raghubar Das’s image… People are not happy. The local MLA is not seen with the people. It will be a tough contest and and any party can win.” He said that the decisive factor would be rural voters who have been befitted by Central schemes.