Sunday, February 27 2005 14:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ranchi: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) took the lead winning six out of eight State Assembly seats according to results declared till noon.

The JMM retained the Barheit and Gandey constituencies while wresting the Sikaripara, Majhgaon, Chakradharpur and Dumri seats from rivals.

The BJP won the Rajdhanwar seat, while independent candidate Madhu Kora secured the Jagannathpur (SC) seat.

According to the latest trends, the JMM-Congress combine were leading in 29 constituencies, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- Janata Dal-United JD-U combine was leading in 24. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which went it alone in the elections this time, is leading in six seats.

Independents were leading in six seats. The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and Samajwadi Party (SP) were leading in two seats each, while Communist Party of India (CPI) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in one seat each. Other parties were leading in four.

JMM sitting MLA Salkhan Soren retained the Gandey seat defeating his nearest BJP rival Lakshman. The party retained the Barheit seat where its MLA Thomas Soren defeated BJP's Simon Malto.

In Sikaripara, JMM candidate Nalin Soren defeated his nearest BJP rival Raja Marandi by 3,000 votes in a multi-cornered contest, while in Majhgaon, JMM's Niral Purti beat BJP's Barkanwar Gargai by 4,004 votes in a eight-cornered fight.

JMM's Sukhram Oraon won the Chakradhapur seat defeating his nearest rival, BJP's Lakshman Gilwa. In Dumri, JMM's Jagannath Mahato defeated RJD's Lalchand Mahato.