Ranchi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced Gamliyel Hembrom as its candidate for the Barhait constituency in the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections, where he will face off against Chief Minister Hemant Soren. This marks Hembrom’s second attempt to challenge Soren, having previously contested in 2019 under the AJSU Party banner, where he polled 2,573 votes and finished in fourth place.

In its second candidate list for Jharkhand, the BJP also named Vikash Mahto as the candidate for Tundi. The announcement follows the release of the BJP’s first list on October 19, which included 66 candidates for the 81-seat assembly. The BJP is contesting 68 seats, leaving the remaining to its allies, including the AJSU Party, JD(U), and LJP (Ram Vilas).

Hemant Soren, the current MLA from Barhait, a JMM stronghold in Sahibganj district, retained the seat in 2019 with a significant margin of 25,740 votes against BJP’s Simon Malto. The JMM, which had won 30 of the 43 seats it contested in 2019, has already announced candidates for the same number of seats in this election. The I.N.D.I.A. bloc partners, including the JMM and Congress, are jointly contesting 70 seats, while the RJD and Left parties are fielding candidates in the remaining 11.

The Jharkhand Assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20, with counting set for November 23. The electorate includes 2.60 crore eligible voters, comprising 11.84 lakh first-time voters and a significant number of persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and third-gender electors.

In 2019, the JMM-led alliance won a majority with 47 seats, unseating the BJP, which had secured 25 seats. Other parties, including JVM-P, AJSU Party, CPI (ML), and NCP, had also gained representation.

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Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.

The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.

The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.

“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.

“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.

Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.

Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.

Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.

“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.