In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 11 out of the 14 seats in the state, while one seat was won by its ally AJSUP.The Congress and the JMM, on the other hand, could win just one seat each. However, in the assembly elections later in 2019, the BJP lost power in the state with party winning only 25 out of the 81 seats. The JMM with 30 seats and Congress with 16 seats formed a coalition government.
The Kodas hold considerable clout in the Singhbhum region of the state. Madhu Koda was the chief minister of Jharkhand from 2006 to 2008. Geeta Koda joined politics after Madhu Koda got embrioled in corruption cases and was debarred from contesting elections. She served two terms as MLA from 2009 to 2019, before being elected as MP from Chaibasa. She jooined the Congress in 2018.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Geeta Koda defeated BJP’s Laxman Giluwa by over 72,000 votes. She got more than 49 per cent of the total votes polled while Giluwa received nearly 41 per cent of the votes. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Geeta Koda had lost to Giluwa by nearly 10,000 votes.
Singhbhum is part of the Kolhan division of the state and plays a crucial role in the elections. Four of the seven chief ministers of the state are from the Kolhan division. In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP could not win any seat in the Kolhan region.
According to news agency ANI, Geeta Koda was unhappy with the alliance forged by Congress in the state. Geeta targeted the grand old party and said “I joined the BJP today. The Congress has put the country in trouble by indulging in appeasement politics. The party says it will take everyone along, but it takes only its family along.”
The BJP-led NDA which won 12 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 will be eyeing a clean sweep in the state in the upcoming elections. With Geeta Koda’s in the party, the BJP would hope to make gains in assembly elections also especially in the Kolhan division of the state.