Marandi is eyeing a second term from the Dhanwar seat and is leading by 18,626 votes against his rival Rajkumar Yadav at 3.45 pm.
In 2019, he represented his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P) and defeated then BJP candidate Lakshman Prasad Singh by over 17,000 votes. Later, Marandi merged his political outfit with the BJP in February 2020.
This time, Marandi is contesting on a BJP ticket and is pitted against Rajkumar Yadav of CPI (ML) and Nizamuddin Ansari of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) — both part of the INDIA bloc.
Yadav and Ansari have previously secured a win from this seat once each. In 2014, Yadav defeated Marandi, who at that time represented his JVM(P). During the 2009 polls, Ansari won the seat on a JVM(P) ticket.
The Dhanwar Assembly segment is a part of the Kodarma Lok Sabha constituency, which the BJP has held since 2014.
During the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly election, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won 47 out of 81 seats in the state. While the JMM bagged 30, Congress secured a win in 16, and one seat went to the RJD.
The BJP contested the polls alone last time and won 25 seats. The remaining seats went to Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P), AJSU, CPI(ML) and others.
Dhanwar Assembly: Polling date
The 2024 Assembly election in Jharkhand is taking place in two phases. In the first phase, polling was held in 43 constituencies on November 13, witnessing a voter turnout of 66.65%.
In the second phase, the remaining 38 seats, including Dhanwar, will vote on Wednesday, November 20. The counting of votes is scheduled for November 23.
Dhanwar Assembly: Candidates List
As many as 24 candidates are in the race for the Dhanwar seat in the 2024 polls.
| Candidate Names | Party |
| Babulal Marandi | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Rajkumar Yadav | CPI(ML) |
| Nizammuddin Ansari | Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) |
| Mukesh Verma | Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) |
| Akleshwar Saw | Lokhit Adhikar Party |
| Mritunjay Kumar | Bhartiya Janjagran Gandhiwadi Party |
| Mohammad Danish | Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) |
| Rajdesh Ratan | Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha |
| Abhishek Kumar | Independent |
| Arbind Paswan | Independent |
| Karan Yadav | Independent |
| Gopikrishn Yadav | Independent |
| Devendra Gupta | Independent |
| Niranjan Rai | Independent |
| Pawan Kumar Ram | Independent |
| Brahmdev Tudoo | Independent |
| Bharat Yadav | Independent |
| Manna Baske | Independent |
| Rakesh Mishra | Independent |
| Rameshwar Yadav | Independent |
| Shree Sahu | Independent |
| Sanjay Kumar | Independent |
| MD Sagir | Independent |
| Santu Thakur | Independent |
2019 result
In the 2019 Jharkhand Assembly election, then-JVM (P) leader Babulal Marandi defeated then-BJP candidate Lakshman Prasad Singh by 17,550 votes.
| Candidate Names | Party | Votes |
| Babulal Marandi | JVM(P) | 52,352 (27.58%) |
| Lakshman Prasad Singh | BJP | 34,802 (18.33%) |
| NOTA | – | 2,485 (1.31%) |
(Edited by : Anushka Sharma)
First Published: Nov 23, 2024 7:40 AM IST
