Simaria (SC)

Overview & 2024 Context

Simaria, Assembly Constituency number 26 in Chatra district, produced a narrow contest in the 2024 Jharkhand polls. KUMAR UJJWAL of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finished first with 111,906 votes (44.31%), defeating MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA (JMM), who polled 107,905 (42.73%). The victory margin was 4,001 votes. Of 378,063 electors, 252,549 votes were polled and turnout stood at 66.8%.

The 2024 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election returned the JMM-led INDIA bloc to power — the first consecutive re-election of an incumbent government in the state’s history. Campaign discourse centred on Maiya Samman–style welfare for women, Adivasi asmita and jal–jungle–jameen, set against NDA messaging on infiltration, corruption and law-and-order, as widely reported during the polls. In this Legislative Assembly segment, the local verdict hinged on candidate networks and booth-level conversion as much as alliance symbols. Leading contenders by votes included: KUMAR UJJWAL (BJP, 111,906 / 44.31%); MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA (JMM, 107,905 / 42.73%); JITENDRA KUMAR (JLKM, 11,164 / 4.42%); SURESH KUMAR (CPI, 3,809 / 1.51%).

Campaign noise statewide does not erase the arithmetic of this Legislative Assembly segment: the gap between KUMAR UJJWAL and MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA is the binding fact for seat 26, and every other claim about caste blocs or welfare messaging has to be tested against that published margin of 4,001 votes.

Geographical & Administrative Profile

Chatra sits in north/central Chotanagpur Jharkhand. Headquartered at Chatra, it mixes coal-mining and industrial corridors with rural blocks; jobs, roads and local contractor networks matter as much as alliance symbols. Administratively, Simaria is Legislative Assembly number 26 under Chatra (headquarters: Chatra). Like neighbouring segments, it mixes rural habitations and market nodes where roads, schools, health access and welfare delivery travel with voters as strongly as statewide narratives.

Geography here is not ornamental for election reading. Flood plains, market roads and block headquarters shape who can mobilise, who migrates for work, and which booth clusters decide close Assembly Constituency contests. Simaria sits inside that Chatra administrative map even when national television talks only of alliances.

History & Past Election Trends

On the same constituency lineage, recent Legislative Assembly outcomes were — 2019: Kishun Kumar Das (BJP) by 10,996 votes; 2014: GANESH GANJHU (JVM) by 15,640 votes; 2009: 1 JAI PRAKASH SINGH BHOGTA (JVM) by 8,025 votes.

Against that backdrop, the 2024 win for KUMAR UJJWAL (BJP) in Assembly Constituency number 26 should be read as continuity where the same camp had dominated, or as another swing where the lineage had flipped before — never by treating the serial number alone as eternal identity.

Statistics & Gender-wise Polling Analysis

Electors: 378,063. Votes polled: 252,549. Turnout: 66.8%. Winner KUMAR UJJWAL (BJP): 111,906 (44.31%); runner-up MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA (JMM): 107,905 (42.73%); margin: 4,001 — a narrow contest relative to total votes polled in this Assembly Constituency.

Women slightly outnumbered men among recorded voters: male 117,007 (46.82%), female 132,902 (53.18%).

Turnout 66.8% with 252,549 votes from 378,063 electors remains the participation baseline for comparing this seat with neighbouring Legislative Assembly segments in Chatra.

Issues That Drove Voting Behavior

Statewide themes included women’s cash-transfer welfare, tribal identity and land/forest rights, mining and jobs, and contested narratives on infiltration versus social cohesion. In Chatra, voters also weighed mining jobs, rural roads, urban services, contractor networks. a narrow contest for KUMAR UJJWAL (BJP) against MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA (JMM) suggests the winner’s camp converted a broader preference in seat 26.

None of those themes automatically explain every booth. The usable conclusion for Simaria is narrower: KUMAR UJJWAL (BJP) outpolled MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA (JMM) by 4,001 votes under 66.8% turnout, and that is the 2024 mandate recorded for Assembly Constituency number 26.

Reading 2024 carefully means separating statewide wave talk from booth-level conversion in Simaria. KUMAR UJJWAL (BJP) converted 111,906 votes; MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA (JMM) had 107,905. Turnout 66.8% and margin 4,001 in seat 26 signal organisational reach across polling stations rather than a single-day mood swing alone.

For journalists and researchers, the safer frame is lineage continuity plus the published 2024 table: electors 378,063, votes polled 252,549, and the head-to-head between KUMAR UJJWAL and MANOJ KUMAR CHANDRA. District cues in Chatra still matter — roads, floods, farm prices, migration and welfare delivery — but they must be weighed against what the EVM count actually recorded in this Assembly Constituency / Legislative Assembly seat.