Jharkhand Election Results 2019 live updates: Will take oath as CM on December 29, says Hemant Soren

With Jharkhand joining the growing list of states slipping out of BJP's rule, the party now governs mere 35 per cent of the country's landmass in comparison to over 71 per cent during its peak in 2017 when it was in power in the entire Hindi-speaking heartland. Its string of losses in states despite the massive victory in the April-May Lok Sabha elections may force the party's top brass to revisit its strategy for the assembly polls as it prepares for the upcoming battles in Delhi and Bihar. Read full story

Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das on Monday resigned after the BJP received a drubbing in the assembly elections. "I met Governor Droupadi Murmu and submitted my resignation. The governor asked me to be caretaker CM till the new government is formed, Das told reporters after coming out of the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi. Das is trailing behind Independent candidate Saryu Roy by over 15,000 votes in East Jamshedpur constituency. Read full story

The BJP on Monday attributed its loss in the Jharkhand assembly polls to "local issues", and said, "internal strife" also appeared to have a significant impact in the state, where the JMM-Congress alliance is set to form the government. Party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the BJP will analyse in detail factors for the loss in the state but added that the lack of an alliance against a united opposition also had a role. Read full story

Voters of Baharagora gave a clear verdict that they prefer to remain loyal to the party than to the candidate. JMM won this seat for the third time in a row. The voters elected JMM's Samir Mahanty from the seat, who had switched over to Guruji camp abandoning the BJP just after the poll dates were announced. Mahanty jumped fence when BJP selected Kunal Sarangi for the seat. Mahanty got more than 88,000 votes. He polled in around 65% votes. His nearest rival from BJP Kunal got only around 30,000 votes. Read full story

As official EC trends indicate a majority win for the Congress-JMM alliance, Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das on Monday said he will wait for the final results to come in and said that BJP will accept the mandate. "I am hopeful that the result will be in our favour. I am waiting for the final results. BJP will accept the people's mandate," he said. Read more

Former union minister P Chidambaram on Monday thanked the voters of Jharkhand for siding with the coalition of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and added that the election results have shown that the BJP is "slipping" nationwide. "Dented in Haryana, denied in Maharashtra, defeated in Jharkhand. That is the story of the BJP in 2019. All non-BJP parties must raise their sights and rally around the Congress to save the Constitution of India," Chidambaram tweeted. Read full story

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday congratulated Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren who is set to become the next Jharkhand CM as JMM-Congress alliance appeared to snatch the state from BJP. Kejriwal said the last two phases of Jharkhand polls took place after Citizenship Amendment Act and the issue of NRC and BJP leaders had aggressively raised the issue during poll campaigns. Read full story