Sarma, who had earlier described Jharkhand as his “second home”, hectically campaigned for BJP candidates several times and addressed many election rallies.

In a post on X, he said: “The loss in Jharkhand is deeply painful for me personally, even though we secured victory in all five by-elections in Assam.”

“I have witnessed the unwavering dedication and relentless efforts of our Karyakartas in Jharkhand, who gave their all in this election. We fought with a vision to protect the state from infiltration and to lead it on the path of development, fulfilling the aspirations of students and youth,” he added.

“However, we must humbly accept the mandate of the people... that is the true essence of democracy. In these challenging times, we will stand firmly with our Karyakartas, offering them unwavering support and solidarity,” Sarma said and congratulated Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his entire team.

In a separate post on the X, he said: “JMM and its allies have secured an impressive victory in Jharkhand. My heartfelt congratulations to Shri Hemant Soren and his entire team on this achievement.”

“I am confident that under his leadership, Jharkhand will embark on a path of progress and development,” the Chief Minister said.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance, comprising the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), has ensured a historic second consecutive term for the coalition under the leadership of incumbent Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

The ruling alliance secured 56 seats in the 81-member assembly with JMM alone bagging 34 seats, Congress 16, RJD four and CPI-(ML-Liberation) two while BJP managed 21 seats and four other local parties won one seat each.

Jharkhand has 26.2 per cent population (2011 census) belonging to tribals and 28 of the total 81 seats are reserved for the scheduled tribe candidates.

The JMM won a majority of the tribal reserved seats.