Jharkhand Election Result: How Jairam 'Tiger' Mahto Emerged as a Game-Changer

Jairam ‘Tiger’ Mahto, a young leader who took the political plunge ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly elections, contested from two seats—Dumri (in Giridh district) and Bermo (in Bokaro).

(Image: The Quint/@Kamran Akhter)

Jairam ‘Tiger’ Mahto, a young leader who took the political plunge ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly elections, contested from two seats—Dumri (in Giridh district) and Bermo (in Bokaro). 

Of the two, Jairam won from the Dumri seat by a margin of nearly 11,000 votes. By doing so, he not only defeated Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Baby Devi but also wrested the seat, long held by the JMM.  

In Bermo, however, he lost to the Congress candidate Kumar Jaimangal (Anup Singh) but got more seats than the BJP candidate.  

Jairam’s political party Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) was registered by the Election Commission just ahead of Vidhan Sabha elections in the state.

The party, though receiving significant votes—JLKM candidates were second runners-up in many seats—did not gain more than one seat.   

Jairam hails from the Kurmi or the Mahto community, which comprises around 14 percent of the state’s population. His party's emergence ate ino the traditional base of the AJSU, an ally of the BJP.  

Will this victory help shape Jairam Mahto and his party’s political future, let’s take a look: 

Jairam Mahto’s Victories  

Jairam Mahto had risen to prominence in 2022, when he launched a movement to promote only local languages in Jharkhand to protest the inclusion of Bhojpuri, Magahi and Angika (non-native in Jharkhand) in state-level examinations, The Hindu reported. At that time, he used to lead an outfit called Jharkhandi Bhasha Khatiyan Sangharsh Samiti (JBKSS).  

Jairam also demanded that jobs in the state should only be provided to those belonging to Jharkhand. As a result, he gained popularity among the state’s youth, especially those belonging to the Mahto community.  

Jairam’s victory in Dumri is significant as by doing so he unseated the JMM from its stronghold—JMM’s Jagarnath Mahto has been elected the MLA from Dumri for four consecutive times.  

Another interesting data point to note here is that the Mahto vote did get split in Dumri, with the winning margin being less than the votes polled by AJSU candidate Yashoda Devi.

(Screenshot: Election Commission)

Again, if we look closely at the Bermo constituency, Jairam lost by a vote margin of nearly 30,000 votes. But the second runner-up, BJP’s Ravindra Kumar Pandey polled more than 58,000 votes.  

JLKM’s Gains, AJSU’s Loss

Jairam’s JLKM contested 71 of the total 81 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly. In many seats, JLKM candidates polled more than 15,000 votes, which was close to the victory margin between the winning candidate and the first runner-up. In many others, it was the second runner-up. 

Again, if we look closely at the result of Gomia seat, the Mahto vote was split between JLKM and AJSU—with both parties getting over 50,000 votes, more than the winning margin of 36,000 votes. A similar situation was recorded in Ramgarh.  

Similarly, in Ichagarh, where the AJSU was defeated by the JMM candidate by a margin of 26,520 votes, Jairam JLKM polled 41,138 votes.  

In Mandu, however, AJSU candidate Nirmal Mahto won by a wafer-thin margin of 231 votes, its sole victory. In this constituency too, the Mahto votes were split with JLKM winning over 72,000 votes.  

In Saraikella, Champai Soren has Jairam’s JLKM to thank. Here too, JKLM polled over 40,000 votes, twice that of the victory margin.

Meanwhile, AJSU’s vote share has also dwindled from 8.2 percent in 2019 to 3.54 percent in 2024, indicating a shift in the Mahto vote in favour of JLKM.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections too, Jairam had contested from the Giridh parliamentary constituency and polled an impressive 3.5 lakh votes. However, he had lost to AJSU candidate Chandra Prakash Choudhary.

Jharkhand Results:

The INDIA alliance took a comfortable lead in at least 57 seats—more than the halfway mark of 44—Jharkhand as results to Vidhan Sabha elections were declared on 23 November. 

 In Jharkhand, the INDIA alliance comprises of the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) or the CPI(ML).   

 Meanwhile the BJP, which was aiming to unseat the JMM-led alliance in the state government, is leading in 20 seats, as per the Election Commission of India. The party’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) are leading in one seat each.