Elections for the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly were held in December 2009. It was a contest between three alliances The Indian National Congress (INC), The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its major ally Janata Dal (United), and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The poll result was a shock for the incumbent BJP-JD(U) Alliance as they could muster only a quarter of the state assembly's 81 seats. The JMM emerged as a formidable force and finally turned out to be the kingmaker. The election turned out to be a stalemate as many expected because no major party or group was able to come even close to the 41-seat majority.

Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and is a part of government in Bihar. JD(U) heads the government in Bihar and has remained the second largest party in Manipur. JD(U) won 16 seats in the 2019 Indian general election, making it the seventh largest party in the Lok Sabha.