BJP wins three seats, leads in five in Jharkhand

Ranchi, May 16 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won three seats and was leading in five of Jharkhand's 14 parliamentary constituencies as votes were being counted early Saturday evening.

By 4 p.m., senior BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha had won from Hazaribagh, former chief minister Arjun Munda from Jamshedpur and Karia Munda from Khuti constituencies.

BJP had won only one seat in the 2004 Lok sabha polls and it lost the lone seat in 2006 when party MP and former chief minister Babulal Marandi quit the party.

Independent candidate and former assembly speaker Inder Singh Namdhari, who is supported by the BJP, won from Chatra.

The Congress managed to win just one seat.

'In Jharkhand, people were fed up with experiments made by the Congress by supporting independent legislator Madhu Koda to rule the state for nearly two years. The misrule witnessed after BJP's rule in the state frustrated people and people expressed their anger by defeating Congress and JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) combination in the state,' said state BJP president Raghubar Das.

The JMM has won two seats, two less than their share in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. In 2004, the Congress had won six, the JMM four and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) two.

The RJD has not won any seat this time.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi won from Koderma seat. All the four former chief ministers were in the poll fray this time and three of them - Marandi, Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda (Independent) have won.

Shibu Soren is leading in Dumka constituency.

Two central Ministers and Congress candidates - Subodh Kant Sahay and Rameshwar Oraon - lost the election from Ranchi and Lohardagga seats, respectively.