In January this year, the sitting MLA from Gandey, JMM’s Sarfaraz Ahmed, vacated the seat paving the way for Kalpana Soren’s poll debut. Ahmed was rewarded by the JMM and received a ticket to Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament.
Kalpana Soren bagged her maiden victory in May 2024, defeating then-BJP candidate Dilip Kumar Verma by over 26,000 votes. The JMM has shown confidence in the chief minister’s wife and nominated her from Gandey in Giridih district — home to a large number of tribals and Muslims.
Muniya Devi is new to mainstream politics. She was elected District Council member from Jamua’s eastern part in 2011. Devi became a part of the saffron party last year and this is her first assembly election.
Since 1977, the JMM has secured a win in Gandey six times, while the BJP and Congress have emerged victorious twice.
During the 2019 Assembly election in Jharkhand, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance registered a historic win, with JMM getting 30 out of 81 seats, Congress bagging 16 and the remaining one going to the RJD.
The BJP, which contested the last
Assembly polls alone, secured victory on 25 seats, while the remaining went to the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P), AJSU and CPI(ML) among others.
Gandey Assembly: Polling date
The Assembly polls are being held in two phases in Jharkhand in 2024. After the successful completion of polling in 43 constituencies in the first phase on November 13, the remaining 38 seats in the state, including Gandey, will vote in the second phase on November 20. The counting of votes will be held on November 23.
Gandey Assembly: Candidates List
As many as 15 candidates are contesting from the Gandey seat in the 2024 polls.
| Candidate Names | Party |
| Kalpana Soren | Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) |
| Muniya Devi | Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) |
| MD Kausar Azad | Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) |
| Arjun Baitha | Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) |
| Md Arif Uddin | Aapki Vikas Party |
| Kameshwar Saw | Lokhit Adhikar Party |
| Mohammad Ansari | Rashtriya Samanta Dal |
| Rajesh Kumar | All India Forward Bloc |
| Samim Akhtar | Jagrook Janta Party |
| Dinesh Varma | Independent |
| Pritee Kumari | Independent |
| Basant Hansda | Independent |
| Birendra Vishwakarma | Independent |
| Rameshwar Dusadh | Independent |
| Lalita Roy | Independent |
2019 result
During the 2019 polls, JMM’s Sarfaraz Ahmed defeated BJP’s Jai Prakash Verma by 8,855 votes.
| Candidate Names | Party | Votes |
| Sarfaraz Ahmed | JMM | 65,023 (34.71%) |
| Jai Prakash Verma | BJP | 56,168 (29.98%) |
| NOTA | – | 3,734 (1.99%) |
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
