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J’khand bypoll: NDA wrests Ramgarh assembly seat from Congress
The bypoll was necessitated after Congress legislator Mamta Devi, who is Mahto’s wife, was handed a five-year jail term last year following conviction in a violent protest case of 2016, which disqualified her as a member of the assembly.
In a setback for Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand, AJSU Party candidate Sunita Chaudhary, backed by BJP, on Thursday wrested Ramgarh assembly seat from the Congress, defeating its candidate Bajrang Mahto by around 21,970 votes in the bypoll that was held on February 27.
The bypoll was necessitated after Congress legislator Mamta Devi, who is Mahto’s wife, was handed a five-year jail term last year following conviction in a violent protest case of 2016, which disqualified her as a member of the assembly.
The seat was considered a pocket borough of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) till 2019, when Devi won even as the alliance between AJSU and BJP fell out in the run-up to assembly polls. Since 2001, the seat had remained with NDA.
This is the first victory for the opposition in the bypolls for five seats held in the state since JMM-Congress-RJD combine came to power in December 2019. JMM and Congress had retained two seats each in the earlier bypolls.
The Ramgarh victory has come as a shot in the arm for the NDA, coming as it does a year ahead of parliamentary polls in the country in 2024, which would be followed by assembly polls in the state six months later.
“I had always maintained we would wrest back this seat with a handsome margin because of the development work we had done in 15 years in Ramgarh. The result is also a reflection of what is in store in 2024. I thank people, workers of AJSU Party and our NDA partner for the hard work they put in,” said AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto.
The Ramgarh loss does not pose any threat to the ruling alliance which enjoys a comfortable majority of 48 in the 81-member assembly.
“The electorate has given its verdict on the three-year rule of the Soren goverment that has done nothing except organised loot. You can’t fool people for a very long time by raising emotional issues and making false promises,” said BJP legislature party leader Babulal Marandi.
Chief minister Hemant Soren described the result as victory “money power”.
“It’s no way a reflection on governance. We have just started implementing our schemes. It’s a victory of money power. We know how the elections happen. This was not the final examination,” he told reporters at the assembly, which is currently in budget session.
