Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda’s victory on Thursday in the Kharsawan Assembly bypoll gave the state’s ruling BJP-JMM alliance a major boost and promised political stability for the time being, but the tribal leader’s low winning margin in his home turf signalled a shift in public opinion.
Despite the state government’s best efforts to secure Mr Munda’s victory in the southern constituency that elected him thrice earlier and elected his chosen candidate in the 2009 polls, he managed to win by a margin of just 17,366 votes in the bypoll held on February 10. Compared to his last victory in Kharsawan by over 55,000 votes, the shrunken margin in the latest electoral battle cast a shadow in the BJP, which had claimed that the sitting chief minister would win by over 60,000 votes. With this win after five months of being sworn in as Jharkhand’s chief minister, Mr Munda gets to continue in his present post and will have to resign from the Lok Sabha, where he currently represents Jamshedpur. His main opponent Dasrath Gagrai alias Krishna Gagrai of the Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), who had the support of the Congress, secured 44,335 votes and Mr Munda got 61,701 votes. Of the total 1.52 lakh voters in Kharsawan, 73 per cent had cast their votes.
Elated, Mr Munda said: “This victory is the people’s resounding rejection of the Opposition parties’ conspiracy to bring back political instability in Jharkhand. The people understood the Opposition’s intentions over issues such as the Chhota Nagpur Tenancy Act dealing with OBC land transfer”. BJP Jharkhand president Dineshanand Goswami said Mr Munda’s victory would lend “long-term political stability”.
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BJP retains C’garh seat
Rabindra Nath Choudhury
Raipur
Feb. 17: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh retained the Sanjari-Balod Assembly seat in the byelection, the result of which was declared on Thursday. BJP candidate Kumari Bai Sahu defeated her nearest rival and Congress nominee Mohan Patel by a margin of 9,665 votes in a 15-corner contest to win the seat in the bypoll, held on February 14. The byelection was necessitated following death of sitting BJP MLA Madan Sahu in August last.