Kalpana Soren Murmu, wife of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and JMM candidate for Gandey Assembly registered an emphatic win in the bye-election. Kalpana won the by-election by a margin of 27,149 votes.
The JMM leader defeated BJP’s Dilip Kumar Verma in the bypoll, which was necessitated after the resignation of Gandey’s JMM MLA Sarfaraj Ahmed on December 31, 2023.
Ahmed had resigned in the wake of a possible ED action against then CM Hemant Soren and was later nominated by the party to contest the Rajya Sabha elections, which he won comfortably.
There was a tough contest between Kalpana Soren and Dilip Verma in the Kurmi dominated area of Gandey, which was a stringhold of JMM. When the counting of votes started, BJP candidate Dilip Verma was leading in the first and second rounds, but later Kalpana Soren started taking the lead and won the polls.
Notably, Kalpana emerged as one of the biggest star campaigners of the INDI Alliance in the general elections 2024. As a prominent face of the INDI alliance, she took part in over 300 election rallies including the huge rallies of Mumbai, Delhi and Ranchi.
Political watchers say that Kalpana is set to be the new Chief Minister of the State given her popularity and reach in the party cadres. The JMM is likely to form a new government in her leadership this month itself as she is leading the party from the front ever since her husband has been arrested by ED in a land scam case on January 31 this year.
After the spectacular victory in Gandey Assembly seat, Kalpana Soren said that this is the result of people's blessings. In the election, each and every worker played his/her role well and we won. She thanked the workers along with all the leaders and ministers of India Alliance party. She also said that this victory is everyone's victory.
Kalpana Soren also congratulated the leaders of INDIA Alliance and NDA alliance who won the Lok Sabha election. Kalpana Soren won by 27 thousand 149 votes. Kalpana got 1 lakh 09 thousand 827 votes, whereas, Dilip Kumar Verma of BJP got 82 thousand 768 votes. Kalpana took the certificate of victory from the returning officer of Gandey, Ghulam Samdani.
