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On 4 February 2008 a by-election was held in for the Simaria (SC) seat of the Legislative Assembly of the Indian state of Jharkhand. The by-election was called after the death of the sitting MLA Upendra Nath Das. [1]
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On 4 February 2008 a by-election was held in for the Simaria (SC) seat of the Legislative Assembly of the Indian state of Jharkhand. The by-election was called after the death of the sitting MLA Upendra Nath Das. [1]
Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Upendra Nath Das, who had been elected from Simaria in the 2005 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election, died from cancer on 6 August 2007. [2] In the 2005 election his main competitors had been Ram Chandra Ram from the Communist Party of India and Yogendra Nath Baitha from the Rashtriya Janata Dal. [3] The notification for the by-poll was issued on 10 January 2008. [4]
Before the by-election the ruling coalition led by Madhu Koda held 42 out of the 82 seats of the Legislative Assembly; 17 from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, 9 from the Indian National Congress, 7 from RJD and 9 independents. [5] As United Progressive Alliance partners could not agree of a single candidate, Koda declared himself neutral in the by-election and did not campaign for any candidate. [6]
Fifteen nominations were presented for the by-election, but one candidate (Binod Bihari Paswan of UGDP) withdrew from the race. [1] [4] In total 12 men and 2 women stood as candidates. [1] Nine of them stood as independents. [1]
The by-election coincided with the lapse of a 60-day deadline that the Indian National Congress had put forth to Koda to comply with a number of demands, and the party threatened to bring down the government if unfulfilled. [7] On 16 January 2008 the Indian National Congress declared that it would contest the by-election on its own. [5]
Yogendra Nath Baitha had won the Simaria seat in the 2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. [8] He had served as the Jharkhand State Committee president of RJD. [9] But ahead of the Simaria by-poll, RJD withdrew Baitha as its candidate for the sake of UPA unity. In response Baitha broke with the party and contested the by-poll as an Indian National Congress candidate instead. [10] [11] Baitha presented his nomination papers on 17 January 2008 in the presence of Jharkhand Congress state President Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu. [12] One hypothesis on why Congress decided to break UPA ranks was that it sought to use the by-election to 'test the waters' ahead of the 2009 Legislative Assembly election. [13] Notably, Congress leaders had expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the Koda cabinet in terms of development and corruption. [5]
Union Ministers Ajay Maken and Subodh Kant Sahay campaigned in favour of Baitha. [6]
26-year old Anjali Bhogta contested the election as an independent. A key demand of her campaign was the set-up a NTPC power plant at Tandwa. Her husband had been jailed, accused of belonging to the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (a Naxalite splinter group). Bhogta herself had been a BJP member. [14] Fearing that her candidacy would draw voters from J.P.S. Bhogta, the JVM(P) actively tried to convince her to withdraw her nomination. [14]
The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate was Jai Prakash Singh Bhogta, a political newcomer in his late 20s. [1] [15] Bhogta is the son of former legislator Mahendra Bhogta. [16] Press reports claimed that JVM(P) would hire two helicopters to help Bhogta campaign across the constituency. [16] Key JVM(P) leaders like Pradeep Yadav, Ravindra Rai, Theodore Kido and Saba Ahmad came to the constituency to campaign for Bhogta. [16]
On 16 January 2008 BJP declared that it would field Kumar Ujjwal Das, Upendra Nath Das' son and political newcomer, as its candidate. [17] [18] The party hoped to benefit sympathy wave after the death of Das. [16] He was a 26-year old management graduate of Jadavpur University. [16] Ahead of the election Kumar Ujjwal Das faced opposition from BJP legislator Satyanand Bhogta from the nearby Chatra constituency who wished to field his wife as the BJP candidate instead. [17]
Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha, former Chief Minister Arjun Munda as well as Jharkhand BJP chief P.N. Singh campaigned for Das. [7] [19]
The Jharkhand Party candidate Meena Devi was noted for declaring the largest assets, 1,430,000 Indian rupees and two buses. [20]
Kuldeep Ganjhu contested the election behind bars as an independent. [16] Once a Communist Party of India (Maoist) zonal commander, Ganjhu had been arrested in 2004. [21] Ganjhu had requested to get a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket to contest the by-election. [22]
CPI candidate Ram Chandra Ram had contested the Simaria seat since 1985. [17] In the by-poll Ram's candidacy was backed-up by RJD, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). [23] [24] CPI Member of Parliament Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta declared Ram as the joint candidate of the United Progressive Alliance. [17]
JMM declared its support for Ram on 16 January 2008 (after RJD and CPI(M) had already pledged their support), calling for unity of UPA partners to defeat communal forces. [18] However, the Indian National Congress (key constituent of UPA) hesitated to support Ram, seemingly wanting to field a candidate of its own instead. [18] Mehta requested Congress president Sonia Gandhi to withdraw their candidate in favour of Ram. [6]
Seeking to distance itself from the Koda cabinet, CPI requested that neither Koda nor any of his ministers would campaign in favour of Ram. [16] Union Railway Minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav campaigned in favour of Ram. [25]
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) called for a boycott of the election. [13] All 228 voting stations were declared as sensitive. [13] 20 companies of paramilitary and other security forces were deployed across the constituency to ensure that the election was held. [13] Authorities organized an aerial vigil on polling day. [7] BJP legislator Satyanand Bhogta was put under preventive detention for some time during the election day. [13]
Voting passed peacefully. [26] Low turn-out was attributed to poll boycott and poor weather. [13]
The counting of votes and declaration of the result was done on 7 February 2008. Ram Chandra Ram was declared as winner. [1] He took his oath a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Ranchi on 8 February 2008. [27]
The result was a set-back for BJP leader Arjun Munda, as it was the fourth consecutive by-election loss for BJP in the state. [19]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPI | Ram Chandra Ram | 30,700 | 26.31% | +3.15% | |
| JVM(P) | Jay Prakash Singh Bhogta | 23,092 | 19.79% | +16.86%'"`UNIQ−−ref−0000000E−QINU`"' | |
| INC | Yogendra Nath Baitha | 19,700 | 16.88% | +12.13%'"`UNIQ−−ref−0000000F−QINU`"' | |
| BJP | Kumar Ujjwal Das | 18,234 | 15.63% | −14.56% | |
| Independent | Anjali Bhogta | 4,593 | 3.93% | ||
| Independent | Sunil Kumar Paswan | 4,493 | 3.85% | ||
| Independent | Manoj Rajak | 3,350 | 2.87% | ||
| Jharkhand Party | Meena Devi | 2,190 | 1.87% | ||
| Independent | Kuldeep Ganjhu | 2,156 | 1.84% | ||
| Independent | Ramtahal Turi | 2,074 | 1.77% | −1.98%'"`UNIQ−−ref−00000010−QINU`"' | |
| Independent | Raj Kumar Rajak | 1,974 | 1.69% | +0.8% | |
| Independent | Kailash Bhuiyan | 1,564 | 1.34% | ||
| Independent | Tarkeshwar Ganjhu | 1,508 | 1.29% | ||
| Independent | Gulab Ram | 1,032 | 0.88% | ||
| Majority | 7,608 | 6.52% | |||
| Turnout | 116,660 | 48.0% | +3.29% | ||
| CPI gain from BJP | Swing | ||||