JMM field Nalin Soren in Dumka, avoids family duel

• JMM announces candidates for 2 LS seats- Dumka and Giridih
• Party fields veteran leader Nalin Soren in Dumka, putting an end to speculations reagarding Hemant Soren contesting
• Nalin Soren will face-off BJP's Sita, former CM's sister-in-law

Jharkhand's governing JMM announced candidates for two Lok Sabha seats that included high-profile Dumka, hours after former CM Hemant Soren discussed strategies in jail with successor Champai Soren and brother Basant.

Speculation had swirled that Hemant might take up the cudgels and contest from Dumka, an ST-reserved constituency from where BJP has fielded his estranged sister-in-law Sita. But putting an end to all the speculation the party has decided to field veteran MLA Nalin Soren. 

Mathura Prasad Mahto, also an MLA, is JMM's candidate in the Giridih LS seat.

Giridih will vote on May 25 and Dumka on June 1. Dumka, in the tribal heartland of Santhal Pargana, has been a Soren family bastion for decades. Hemant's father and JMM patriarch had represented Dumka it eight times till he lost to BJP's Sunil Soren in 2019.