Both the widows of the late MlA Dr Anil Murmu - Uniquey Udoro Hansda and Nisha Sabnam Hansda - were thrown out of the race for littipara Assembly seat on technical grounds on Wednesday. The constituency goes to the polls in the byelection scheduled for April 9.
In the course of scrutiny of all the nomination papers submitted before the Returning Officer on Wednesday, two of those belonging to both the ladies were found invalid and got rejected.
While the nomination filed by the first wife of the deceased MlA Uniquey Udoro Hansda was discarded for not furnishing the certified affidavit before the Returning Officer, Nisha Sabnam Hansda could not furnish the desired number of proposers.
"Two nomination papers have been rejected after scrutiny. Uniquey Udoro Hansda had not submitted the certified copy of the affidavit with her nomination paper. Another Independent candidate, Nisha Sabnam Hansda's nomination was carrying signatures of only nine proposers against at least 10 required," Civil SDO of Pakur Arvind Kumar lal informed The Pioneer over phone.
The official further added that with the completion of the scrutiny process, 10 names remained in the fray as of now. "Names can be withdrawn by Thursday. If none of the candidates takes back nomination then total 10 persons would be contesting the election. Out of the 10, seven are Independents," said the SDO.
Notably, both the ladies had shown great zeal and desperation to contest the by-poll claiming the legacy of Dr Anil Murmu, who was elected on JMM ticket during the last Assembly election. They had even paraded before JMM executive president Hemant Soren separately pressing for the party ticket in their favour.
Caught in two minds initially, the party went for a third name in the form of its former veteran leader Simon Marandi who had switched to the BJP ahead of the last Assembly poll. The brief stint with the saffron party ended with a losing cause at littipara that prompted Simon Marandi to jettison the BJP just recently.
Before the JMM welcomed him back on Tuesday, Simon Marandi had gone ahead and filed his papers as Independent. The Retuning Officer clarified that his candidature as JMM nominee would prevail now and figure into the final list.
With this, only three nominees from recognised political parties-Hemlal Murmu of the BJP, Kisto Soren from the JVM and JMM's Simon Marandi-remained in the contest. Shrilal Kisku, Jyotish Baski are some of the Independents who have thrown their hats into the ring.
Observers are of the view that the presence of the two ladies would have made the task a bit difficult for JMM and the party can now breathe easy.
Though the JVM has named its candidate, it has virtually reduced into a direct and tough fight between itself and the BJP as the Congress and the RJD have extended their support to the Shibu Soren-headed party.
On the other, the BJP moving swiftly ahead of the election, which holds importance in its eyes after recent good showings in the other parts of the country and also a litmus test for the State Government for its policies about CNT-SPT amendments and domicile, has inducted over a dozen workers of the JMM into its fold at littipara.
"The BJP is gaining ground here. People are disenchanted with the JMM and its anti-development policies. The responses we have seen here are encouraging. The BJP is set to win this election," said State BJP president laxman Gilua who was present on the occasion alongwith party's official candidate Hemlal Murmu.