The Jharkhand 2009 Assembly electionswas held in December 2009, to elect the members of the 3rd Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. 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 42-seat majority.