As the BJP seeks a solo majority in Jharkhand, it grapples with Chief Minister Hemant Soren's corruption allegations while capitalising on a new electoral strategy. The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has made a bold statement regarding its increasing success in combating Naxalite terror, with the Election Commission announcing on Tuesday that the Jharkhand legislative assembly election will be held in two phases. Since Jharkhand’s creation as a separate state on November 15, 2000, following the bifurcation of Bihar, the state has always witnessed multiple-phase polling.

While the first assembly election in 2005 saw at least three phases, subsequent elections in 2009, 2014, and 2019 were spread over five phases each. The decision to hold Jharkhand polls in two phases this time comes in the wake of Home Minister Amit Shah's assertion that Naxalism will be eradicated from the country by March 2026.

The Election Commission fixed the poll schedule after taking feedback from the federal home ministry and the state administration to work out logistics, including the availability and deployment of central paramilitary forces. It is assumed that the Home Ministry must have painted an all-iswell picture, assuring that adequate troops would be made available to the poll panel for deployment across the 81 constituencies. Of these, 43 constituencies will vote in the first phase on November 13, while the remaining 38........

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