The Dumka and Bermo Assembly bypolls were held peacefully with no untoward incidents reported from any parts of the constituencies with 62.72 per cent voters exercising their franchise defying corona pandemic fear. Bypolls in 54 Assembly constituencies across 10 States including Dumka and Bermo were held on Tuesday.
In Dumka the final polling percentage stood at 65.27 per cent, while the polling percentage in Bermo stood at 60.20 per cent, which is much more than neighbouring Bihar where 51 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the second phase of election. In both the constituencies 28 candidates are in fray, with 12 candidates in Dumka and 16 candidates in Bermo. The voting in Dumka was held from 7 am to 5 pm, while in Bermo the polling was held from 7 am to 4 pm.
While the JMM has fielded Basant Soren, younger son of party patriarch Shibu Soren from its traditional stronghold Dumka against former minister and BJP candidate Louis Marandi, Congress has fielded Jaimangal Singh, son of the deceased six-term party legislator Rajendra Singh from Bermo, inviting the ire of the opposition that has accused the ruling allies of nepotism against BJP’s Yogeshwar Mahto ‘Batul’.
Dumka Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rajeshwari B congratulated the polling party staff and security personnel for the free, fair and peaceful election. She said, “The polling which started at 7 am started to peak as the day progressed. At 1 pm the polling percentage was 46.96 per cent with the figure going up to 59.10 at 3 pm. The final poll percentage stood at 65.27 percent.” She said there was a minor report of EVM replacement. She said, “No major report of EVM glitches were reported from any polling booths. One EU, one CU and three VVPat machines were replaced during polling. The district administration had made elaborate arrangements at all polling booths due to the corona pandemic. Voters were allowed entry in the booth after going through the thermal scanner.”
She said, “As bypoll were held at the corona pandemic period the district administration had made elaborate arrangements distributing masks among voters who were not wearing masks. However, no corona symptoms patients were found from any booths.”
“The entire polling process went on peacefully and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the Bermo constituency” said Rajesh Kumar Singh, Chief Electoral Officer, Bokaro.
In Bermo, too the polling percentage increased as the day progressed. “In Bermo the poll percentage at 1 pm was 46.07 per cent, which went up to 56.30 per cent till 3 pm. The final polling percentage at Bermo stood at 60.20 per cent,” said Singh.
The by-election on two seats was necessitated as chief minister Hemant Soren vacated Dumka constituency after registering victory from two seats and retained Barhait. Bermo fell vacant after veteran Congress legislator Rajendra Prasad Singh died of illness in May.
Though both sides are claiming victory in both seats, the electoral outcome is unlikely to make any immediate impact to the stability of the 10-month old government as the numbers in the 81-member assembly are stacked in favour of the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD combine with support of at least 48 legislators of the existing 78 members. The results of two bypolls will be declared on November 10.