Congress leader Manju Kumari joins BJP ahead of Jharkhand assembly polls

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], October 15 (ANI): Ahead of the Jharkhand assembly elections, Congress leader Manju Kumari joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at the party office on Tuesday in Ranchi.

Manju Kumari joined the BJP along with her father and former MLA Sukar Ravidas in the presence of Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi and state assembly election co-incharge Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Meanwhile, BJP state president Babulal Marandi spoke on the forthcoming assembly polls in Jharkhand and said, “I am going to Delhi today for the meeting. The agenda of the meeting will be the Assembly elections in the state.”

Marandi also spoke to ANI about the Jharkhand government increasing the monthly assistance amount for women from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500 and said, “They have been giving it for 3 months, why did they not increase it earlier?

“In the state assembly in 2020, we supported them and a proposal was passed to give Rs 5,000 assistance to unemployed graduates and Rs 7,000 to unemployed postgraduate youth, but nothing has been done so far. No one will trust them. People understand everything,” he said.

The Election Commission will announce the schedule for Assembly elections for Maharashtra and Jharkhand on Tuesday.

The poll body officials have called for a press conference at 3.30 pm in the Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi to make the announcement of the schedule for the assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

The term of the Maharashtra Assembly will end on November 26, while the term of the Jharkhand Assembly’s will end on January 5, 2025.

Jharkhand is expected to hold elections for its 81-member legislative assembly by December 2024.

A delegation from the ECI, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on September 24 conducted a thorough review of poll preparedness for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand at Ranchi, directing central and state enforcement agencies to curb the influence of money power.

In the 2019 elections, Jharkhand conducted polling in five phases, whereas Maharashtra had just one phase.