Congress candidate files nomination for Mandar by-poll in CM’s presence
Ranchi, Jun 2: Shilpi Neha Tirkey (29), the Congress candidate for the upcoming by-poll to the Mandar assembly seat in Jharkhand’s Ranchi, filed her nomination papers on Thursday.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and AICC Congress in-charge Jharkhand Avinash Pande and state Congress president Rajesh Thakur were present when Tirkey submitted her nomination papers.
The by-poll will be held on June 23 and votes will be counted on June 26.
The by-election to the assembly seat was necessitated after its MLA Bandhu Tirkey was disqualified as a member of the Jharkhand Assembly on April 8, following a judgment by a special CBI court.
The special CBI court in Jharkhand had on March 28 sentenced Tirkey, a former minister in the state government, to three years in jail in a corruption case.
The Congress nominee is the elder daughter of Bandhu Turkey. Before Shilpi filed her nomination papers she, accompanied by her father, took the blessings of JMM supremo and Rajya Sabha member Shibu Soren, Congress party’s Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pande and former Bishop Felix Toppo.
Amid an alleged tussle between the Congress and the JMM after the latter fielded its candidate for a Rajya Sabha seat, JMM executive president Soren said, “Today, Mandar candidate (Shilpi Neha Tirkey) from Congress party filed her nomination papers as a contender from the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) for the bypoll. I extend my best wishes to her. We have witnessed several by-polls after we came to power in 2019 December and the result has also been seen. We will win this by-poll too convincingly .”
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday had approved the candidature of Shilpi for the ensuing by-election, a statement from the AICC signed by Mukul Wasnik had said.
The Congress and the RJD are the two other constituents of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand.
Candidates can submit their nomination papers till June 6, while the last date for withdrawal of such document is fixed on June 9.
Other political parties are yet to announce their nominees for the by-poll.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the state election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the chairmanship of its Jharkhand unit president Deepak Prakash, was held on Thursday.
Names of probable candidates have been discussed during the meeting, party officials said.
The state BJP has forwarded two names to the central leadership for the forthcoming by-election, a party insider said
[…] Seventh, and oddly, Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha celebration has by no means had a presence in Mandar. However he sees this as a status ballot for his alliance, and has repeatedly declared that the Congress will win convincingly. […]