MADHUPUR BYPOLL: JMM RETAINS SEAT
Hafizul managed to win by over 5k votes
RANCHI: In a shot in the arm for the ruling dispensation, JMM candidate and state tourism minister Hafizul Hassan won the Madhupur by-election on Sunday, defeating BJP candidate Ganga Narayan by over 5,000 votes.
By-election for the seat, necessitated due to demise of JMM party veteran and minority welfare minister Haji Hussain Ansari in October last, was held on April 17, wherein over 71% voters exercised their franchise amid the ongoing second wave of Covid-19.
Though Hassan continued the winning streak, the margin victory reduced from over 23,000 votes in 2019.
Thanking the voters and alliance partners of the UPA for their support, chief minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren said, “This is the third by-election win for the UPA dispensation. I hope this will come as an answer to many people who are involved in political gossip in the state.”
This was the third by-election in the state since the Hemant Soren goverment came to power in December 2019.
The opposition BJP fielded Ganga Narayan in Madhupur days after he joined the saffron party.
RANCHI: In a shot in the arm for the ruling dispensation, JMM candidate and state tourism minister Hafizul Hassan won the Madhupur by-election on Sunday, defeating BJP candidate Ganga Narayan by over 5,000 votes.
By-election for the seat, necessitated due to demise of JMM party veteran and minority welfare minister Haji Hussain Ansari in October last, was held on April 17, wherein over 71% voters exercised their franchise amid the ongoing second wave of Covid-19.
Late Ansari’s son, Hafizul Hassan, who was inducted in the Hemant Soren cabinet in February, managed to retain the assembly seat that has been a traditional strong hold of the JMM, with Ansari winning from Madhupur on four occasions.
Though Hassan continued the winning streak, the margin victory reduced from over 23,000 votes in 2019.
Thanking the voters and alliance partners of the UPA for their support, chief minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren said, “This is the third by-election win for the UPA dispensation. I hope this will come as n answer to many people who are involved in political gossip in the state.”
This was the third by-election in the state since the Hemant Soren goverment came to power in December 2019. The other bypolls were also won by the ruling dispensation .
The opposition BJP fielded Ganga Narayan, reportedly a money bag with business interests in Goa, in Madhupur days after he joined the saffron party.
Singh contested from Madhupur on AJSU Party’s ticket in the 2019 Assembly polls and stood third in the race. BJP’s former minister and two-term legislator Raj Paliwar lost to Haji Hussain Ansari in 2019.
The party’s central election committee picked Ganga Narayan over Paliwar to take on JMM’s candidate in Madhupur, that witnessed a direct fight between the two parties, unlike 2019 when Singh made the election triangular.
Meanwhile, state BJP president and Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash described the bypoll result as “victory of power and not of the JMM”.
“The fact that the JMM managed to win by a thin margin shows that it is losing people’s support. We gave them a close fight and the ruling combine just scraped through. We thank people of Madhupur, as we have lost by very few votes. We will continue to work hard and continue to raise issues of people,” he said.
The fact that JMM won by a thin margin shows that it’s losing people’s support. DEEPAK PRAKASH, state BJP president