The national democratic alliance (NDA), led by the bjp, defeated the JMM-led india block in 51 assembly seats in the lok sabha elections that were declared on june 3. Five months later, the india group won 56 seats, while the nda was whittled down to 24 seats.
 
The BJP's campaign narrative, which claimed that Muslims were marrying tribal women to seize their property and that Muslim infiltration was altering the demographics of Jharkhand's tribal districts, was the main factor separating the two elections.
Tribals make up 26.2% of the state's population, while Muslims make up 14.52%, according to the 2011 census. The two populations represent an important vote bank since Muslims also live in the majority of the tribally dominated assembly regions. Political parties claim that Muslims and tribal people control about half of the state's 81 assembly seats, particularly in the areas of south Chhotanagpur, Kolhan, and Santhal Pargana.
 
The JMM leaders credited the alliance's improved performance over 2019 to the BJP's vigorous "infiltration" campaign, which aimed to undermine tribal-Muslim solidarity. Of the 28 assembly seats set aside for tribal people, the coalition led by hemant Soren won 27 of them, up from 25 in 2019. Champai Soren, a former chief minister and JMM leader who joined the bjp in August, was the sole st reserved seat that the bjp won. The 69-year-old tribal chief was elected on a JMM ticket to the Seraikella seat in 2019.
 
Only two seats designated for st were won by the bjp in the 2019 elections, compared to 11 in 2014. Additionally, one seat was gained by the jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). The Congress, an ally of the JMM, won six seats, while the JMM won 19. Torpa and Khunti were taken from the bjp by the JMM. For the first time since Jharkhand's establishment in 2000, the bjp has lost Khunti.
 
According to jharkhand political activists, the tribal people left the bjp in 2018 when raghubar das was the chief minister of the state and the party attempted to change the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act of 1908 and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act of 1949 in order to establish a land bank.
 
Numerous demonstrations took place, and the JMM turned it into a significant election issue after the former Ragubar Das administration filed sedition charges against hundreds of tribal members. Das is currently the governor of Odisha, and purnima Sahu, his daughter-in-law, was elected from jamshedpur East, his customary assembly constituency.
 
What, therefore, went wrong for the saffron camp this time, even if the JMM was facing anti-incumbency and some citizens were complaining about the current regime's lack of progress and unemployment?
 
Even though the JMM was clear on this from day one, experts think that one of the many contributing causes was the BJP's inability to convey a chief minister's data-face. "People didn't think the bjp could compete with hemant Soren. According to Sudhir Pal of the NGO jharkhand election Watch, "People were unsure whether the bjp would appoint state president Babulal Marandi as its chief minister." When the bjp took office in 2000, Marandi served as the state's first chief minister; however, arjun munda took over in less than two years.
 
"Every electoral pitch the bjp made, from infiltration to development, seemed to have a strategy prepared by the JMM. In regions where Muslims and Tribes predominate, strong voting was the result of infiltration rhetoric and Soren's sympathy. The JMM predicted that the BJP's development platform will be opposed by the maiya Samman Yojna and Abua Awas Yojna. Pal said that Kalpana Soren's popularity was unassailable by the BJP.