Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday announced to contest the Assembly elections together, with his party JMM and Congress to fight on 70 seats and on the remaining 11 seats the RJD and the Left parties will contest. He was accompanied by Jharkhand Congress in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir in Ranchi.

After the first round of talks of the Opposition bloc INDIA, Soren addressed a press conference in Ranchi and informed that the Opposition has decided to contest the upcoming Assembly elections together. The details regarding who will contest from which seat will be provided later, he said.

Soren said the JMM-led alliance was confident of retaining power in the state on the back of its development work.

“Like the CM Hemant Soren said, the alliance partners have been continuously holding discussions about candidates winnability. We have taken all the inputs and have held discussions for 70 out of the 81 assembly constituencies, said Mir while speaking to reporters.

On Friday, the NDA revealed its seat allocation, with the BJP contesting 68 seats, AJSU 10, Janata Dal (United) 2, and Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 1 in Jharkhand.

“As of now, All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) will contest 10 seats, Janata Dal (United) will get 2 seats, and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will contest 1 seat,” said Assam Chief Minister and BJP Jharkhand assembly election co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Regarding seat-sharing, Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahai stated, “We are sticking to our initial number as a new partner (CPI(ML)L) has joined us, and we need to allocate seats to them as well.”

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the JMM secured victory in 30 out of the 81 seats, while the Congress won 16 seats, and the RJD secured one seat. These three parties forged a coalition government, enjoying a comfortable majority. The BJP saw a decrease in its seat tally from 37 in 2014 to 25, whereas the AJSU Party, running independently, secured two seats.

Jharkhand will vote in two phases on November 13 and 20. Votes will be counted on November 23.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday condemned the killing of a migrant labourer, hailing from Bihar, in the Shopian district of South Kashmir.

Abdullah expressed grief over the killing of a non-local labourer whose body was found in the Shopian district and said such attacks must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

The body of the labourer, who was identified as Ashok Chauhan, was found in a field in the Wachi area of Zainapora in the south Kashmir district on Friday. Chouhan’s body bore two bullet wounds, according to police.

“Very sorry to hear about the death of Ashok Chouhan at the hands of militants in South Kashmir. These attacks are abhorrent & must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. I send my condolences to the family & loved ones of the deceased,” Abdullah said in a post on X.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said the entire nation stands united against such acts. The killing of a labourer from Bihar by terrorists in the Shopian district is extremely disgusting and condemnable, Gandhi said.

“The violence and target killings being carried out by terrorists are unacceptable,” the Congress leader said.

According to reports, the bullet-riddled body of Chauhan was discovered by the locals and they reported it to the police. The police arrived at the scene, assessed the situation, and then took the deceased’s body to the hospital for post-mortem examination. Chauhan was living in the Sangam area of Anantnag.

According to one of Chauhan’s colleagues, they left their rented room at 7 a.m., and he was with them for about an hour. Chauhan received a phone call while they were harvesting corn and informed them that he was going somewhere.

After he didn’t return for some time, they went to look for him. When they called his phone, it kept ringing with no answer, and they later found his body.

A bullet-riddled body of a labourer from Bihar’s Banka district was recovered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on Friday.

The body was found in the Wachi area of Zainapora in the south Kashmir district. The laborer, identified as Ashok Chauhan, was living in the Sangam area of Anantnag.

Locals discovered the body and reported it to the police. The police arrived at the scene, assessed the situation, and then took the deceased’s body to the hospital for post-mortem examination.

According to one of Chauhan’s colleagues, they left their rented room at 7 a.m., and he was with them for about an hour. Chauhan received a phone call while they were harvesting corn and informed them that he was going somewhere.

After he didn’t return for some time, they went to look for him. When they called his phone, it kept ringing with no answer, and they later found his body.

“He got a phone call while we were harvesting corn. He told us that he is going somewhere. When he did not return for sometime, we went to look for him. We called his number which kept ringing, but there was no answer. Then we found his body,” the colleague told PTI.

The body has been taken to a hospital for medico-legal formalities, and an investigation has been initiated.

In December 2023, the Indian Army ordered a thorough internal investigation into the deaths of three civilians in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir after allegations that they died in its custody. 

The three civilians were allegedly picked up by the Army for questioning in the wake of the killing of four Army Jawans in an ambush by unidentified terrorists in Poonch on December 21. The aforesaid civilians, aged between 27 and 42, were found dead on December 22.

Following their death, their relatives and political leaders alleged that the three died due to custodial torture as they were among the eight people picked up by the Army for interrogation.

A few days after the incident, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met the Indian Army in Poonch. The Defence Minister had said that the Army must not just win the nation but also the hearts of the people.

Singh emphasised that the Army not only has to save the nation from enemies but also has the responsibility to win the hearts of people. He asked the Army to ensure that such things as civilian killings don’t happen again. He added that there should be an end to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. He also asked the army to move forward with the commitment to stamp out terrorism.