The ruling coalition comprising JMM, Congress, and RJD has decided to put up Sarfaraz Ahmad as its candidate for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand.

Sarfaraz Ahmad, the former Congress leader who had joined JMM to win the Gandey Assembly seat in 2019, had resigned from the assembly on January 2. 

Ahmad’s resignation had generated speculation that Kalpana Soren, wife of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren may contest the seat as a contingency plan if the CM was arrested by the ED.  

Now, when Soren is in jail on charges of money laundering linked with the land scam, Kalpana Soren has joined politics and Sarfaraz Ahmad was named as Congress- JMM joint candidate. 

Also, JMM has fielded its MLA Mathura Prasad Mahto as its candidate for the RS polls. Alongside, the BJP on Saturday had named party general secretary of the state, Pradeep Verma as its candidate for Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand. 

The biennial elections for two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand will be held on March 21. The last day for filing nominations is March 11 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is March 14. Two seats were vacant whereas three candidates were to file nominations in Jharkhand.

The RS polls for these seats were necessitated by the completion of terms of two Rajya Sabha MPs from Jharkhand, Samir Oraon from the BJP and Diraj Prasad Sahu from the Congress, will retire on March 3.