Chatra constituency of Jharkhand Lok Sabha Election 2024: Date of voting, result, candidates list, main parties, schedule

Chatra is a parliamentary constituency in Jharkhand. In 2019, Chatra parliamentary constituency had total 1425218 electors. Total number of valid vote was 925937. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sunil Kumar Singh won and became MP from this seat. He secured total 528077 votes.

Chatra Lok Sabha seat is the only constituency in the state which has never been represented by a local since the first elections were held here in 1957. The constituency will vote on May 20 in the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

Indian National Congress candidate Manoj Kumar Yadav stood second with total 150206 votes. He lost by 377871 votes.

This year, however, has been different. BJP benched its outgoing MP Sunil Kumar Singh, an outsider, after intense protests from a section of the party workers and fielded Kalicharan Singh, a local. Congress candidate KN Tripathi, an outsider too by the virtue of being a native of Palamu district, is also facing protests after his name was announced recently.

While both Singh and Tripathi are confident of bucking the trend this time, history books suggest that outsiders triumphed over local candidates so much so that local candidates even had to forfeit the security deposits.

Unemployed youths in the Chatra constituency are expected to play a crucial role in the upcoming elections. Despite the development of Tandwa block into an industrial town with the presence of CCL's Magadh and Asia's largest open-cast Amrapali coal mines, as well as the NTPC-owned 1980 MW North Karanpura super thermal power plant, migration of youths in search of jobs remains a significant issue in Chatra.

Sachidanand Singh, a retired teacher from Kamta village in Tandwa, voiced his concern about the shortage of skilled youths in the area, which has led them to secure only labourer jobs in the mega projects. He pointed out that while several thousand people from other places have found employment in these projects, young local graduates are migrating in large numbers every year due to the absence of initiatives to enhance their skills.

Sumit Verma, a college student, highlighted that Chatra still lags behind in terms of development as political leaders and officers have failed to address unemployment and migration. He said that youths of Chatra are forced to seek jobs in cities across various states like Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab and Kashmir.