Ghatshila Assembly Bypoll: 17 Candidates Nominate for November 11 Election, Key Contestants Revealed

Jamshedpur: The nomination window to the Ghatshila (ST) assembly constituency, which will go to polls on November 11, closed on Tuesday. A total of 17 candidates entered the poll fray by filing their papers.

Jairam Mahto led Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM) fielded Ramdas Murmu as its candidate on the final day. In all, six candidates filed their nominations on Tuesday.“The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done on Wednesday, while the candidates can withdraw their nominations till October 24,” the office of district election officer said on Tuesday.Of the 17, two are women candidates, including Parvati Hansda of the People’s Party of India (Democratic) and Malti Tudu, an independent.

Besides Malti, six others have filed papers as independent candidates.The contest, which is largely being billed as a direct fight between JMM’s Somesh Soren and BJP’s Babulal Soren, became interesting with the entry of JLKM’s Ramdas. A 28-year-old engineering graduate, Murmu is expected to put a tough fight, political observers said.

In the 2024 state assembly election, Murmu fetched 8,092 popular votes and finished third behind JMM’s Ramdas Soren (now deceased) and BJP candidate Babulal.Ramdas, who died at a New Delhi hospital in August this year, defeated BJP’s Babulal by over 22,000 votes.

The JLKM’s move to field a candidate is being seen as a move by Mahto to shun his party’s image as a pro-Kurmi outfit and expand its base in the tribal dominated areas of the state. “JKLM will remain a distant third in this election too but by fielding Ramdas, party leader Jairam has made a bid to woo the tribal people who largely see him as Kurmi leader,” a veteran opposition leader here said.The move comes amid the growing tensions between the tribal and Kurmi communities in Jharkhand with the latter’s demand for ST status.Recently, tribal communities across the state took the streets to protest against the Kurmi communities after the latter’s ‘Rail Teka, Dahar Cheka’ campaign across Jharkhand and neighbouring states to push for ST status. Apart from the three frontline parties BJP, JMM and JKLM, four candidates are contesting on party symbols. They are Panchanan Soren (Bharat Adivasi Party), Dukhiram Mardi (Aapki Vikas Party), Mangal Murmu (Rashtriya Santan Party) and Parvati.The JLKM’s move to field a candidate is being seen as a move by Mahto to shun his party’s image as a pro-Kurmi outfit and expand its base in the tribal dominated areas of the state. However, leaders in the opposition camp claimed that JLKM candidate Ramdas Murmu will finish third in the bypoll