The ‘lotus bloom’ across the country has failed to make a dent in the support base for the JMM’s ‘bow and arrow’ in littipara, controlled by Shibu Soren’s party for the last 40 years.
JMM’s Simon Marandi overriding all the political gimmicks allegedly played out by the ruling BJP, registered victory by a margin of nearly 12,900 votes over Hemlal Murmu and in the process grabbed a new lease of life for himself after nearly three years of exile from the Assembly.
The JMM maintained its lead in almost each of the 20 rounds of counting started since morning on Thursday. Barring four rounds when it lost to the BJP by narrow margins, Simon remained way ahead of his old mate Hemlal.
Though, round-14 went convincingly in the favour of the BJP as the margin grew to 872 votes before the JMM smiled the last. The final tally suggested that the JMM polled 65,551 votes (46.39 per cent) while the BJP could garner only 52651 (37.26 per cent) votes. JVM Kistu Soren could manage only 9208 votes.
Reacting to the result, where Chief Minister Raghubar Das thanked the winning party, the leader of Opposition Hemant Soren termed it as beginning of end of the BJP rule.
“I thank the JMM for winning bye-election in littipara. I also especially thank the voters of the constituency and BJP workers. The BJP has faired better than the previous election and our vote share has gone up. The Government is committed to development of entire Santhal Pargana region, irrespective of the poll outcome,” said the CM.
Upbeat Soren, addressing a press conference, said, “The result is the reaction of the people against the misdeeds of the Government. It is a referendum on the CNT-SPT amendments and domicile policy. This is the beginning of the end of the Raghubar rule. The Chief Minister should immediately resign,” said the JMM executive president.
Interestingly, both Simon and Hemlal had left their parent party JMM in the run up to the last Parliamentary polls for the BJP but could not taste victory without the iconic ‘bow and arrow’ symbol and legendary Dishom Guru Shibu Soren in the tribal belt. It was third electoral defeat in a row for the ex-JMM heavyweight Hemlal in saffron colours. Simon, unlike Hemlal, must have realised this before forcing his entry into JMM fold just before the bypoll.
For Simon, who had taken over the constituency from his wife Sushila Hansda in 2009 as JMM candidate, it was purely a victory of the party. The veteran of Santhal politics had to fare poor second to JMM nominee Dr Anil Murmu during the 2014 polls with a deficit of nearly 25,000 votes when he donned the saffron colours. Nevertheless he received an unexpected opportunity to correct himself in the form of the bypoll since the sitting JMM legislator passed away.
On the other hand, the BJP despite its best efforts and using all the might it could manage only in narrowing down the margin of victory this time around. The party currently huffing and puffing to make inroads in the JMM bastion Santhal Pargana region, it seems, would have to wait further.
The ruling party in the process also came on the targets of the Opposition, especially the JMM, for “going too far and adopting unfair means” in order to snatch a victory. It was criticised for organising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to neighbouring Sahibganj, luring primitive tribesmen Paharias that have considerable presence in littipara—predominantly a Santhal homeland—and also for Chief Minister Raghubar Das stationing himself in the constituency for as many as six days.
On several occasions ahead of the voting the JMM even approached the Election Commission for its intervention and raised suspicion over EVMs, claiming that those had been tampered with and engineered in such a way that these would favour the BJP.
For many, the by-poll was also a litmus test of the policies adopted by the BJP after coming into power. Its decision to go ahead amending the CNT-SPT Acts, which potentially affect tribal population of the State the most, remained one of the focal points during the bypoll.
Now, when the party gets the drubbing, it would be under pressure to revisit the tenancy amendment Bills being pursued by the Government. Apart from the Opposition, this would also be used by coalition partner AJSU as an arsenal to target the Government since the Sudesh Mahto-led party has been chanting against the policies and the domicile policy among the people.