State Bureau, Ranchi: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state organization in-charge, Dr. Laxmikant Vajpayee, and acting state president, Dr. Ravindra Kumar Rai, addressed a press conference at the state office on Sunday. They discussed the results of the Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2024 and the conclusions of a two-day review meeting.
Dr. Vajpayee stated that the conclusions drawn from the meeting will serve as a milestone for BJP’s future. He acknowledged the party’s loss in the elections but emphasized that BJP increased its vote share and acceptance among the public. However, the party fell short in electoral arithmetic.
Marandi to Be Replaced; Jharkhand BJP to Get a New Chief
Dr. Vajpayee announced that a membership campaign would be launched to build a robust organization supporting party workers. By February, a new state president will be elected to replace Babulal Marandi, the current president of Jharkhand BJP. He also assured that BJP would play the role of a constructive opposition in the Assembly. Lok Sabha MP Poonam Devi has been appointed to oversee the membership campaign in Jharkhand.
“No Decline in BJP’s Credibility”
Acting state president Dr. Ravindra Rai stated that a two-day meeting, led by the national organization general secretary, included five sessions discussing election operations, management, and results. He asserted that there has been no decline in BJP’s credibility in Jharkhand. The party received 900,000 more votes compared to the previous elections. However, the polarization of votes, along with communal and caste-based sentiments, affected the expected outcome.
He further added that no significant shortcomings or accusations emerged at the organizational or candidate levels. While the management and public outreach of candidates were effective, there was a slight gap in conveying the issues to the public, which allowed opponents to succeed.
Minor Discrepancies in Voting and EVM Data
In the Assembly elections, discrepancies were observed between the final voter turnout figures released by the Election Commission and the data from EVMs at some polling stations. Jharkhand’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), K. Ravi Kumar, attributed these discrepancies to human error. He explained that presiding officers occasionally make mistakes when recording data in Form 17/C, or computer operators may input numbers incorrectly.
Such errors were observed in 44–45 polling stations by computer operators and at 21 booths by presiding officers, accounting for less than 0.3% of the total 29,563 polling stations. During the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, similar errors occurred at 115 booths. As a result, election personnel were provided with additional training, significantly reducing errors this time.
According to the CEO, if discrepancies exceed the margin of victory for any candidate, votes can be counted using VVPAT slips. Notably, in Ranchi, there was a difference of 1,401 votes between the voter turnout percentage and EVM data.
