Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Hafizul Hassan’s nomination filing on Thursday at Madhupur turned out to be a show of strength by the UPA camp, with major allies JMM, Congress and RJD pitching victory for Hassan.
The Grand Alliance ahead of Madhupur bye-election choose to exhibit show of strength with Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Parliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam, Agriculture Minister Badal, Labour resources minister Satyanand Bhokta, MLAs Irfan Ansari, Deepika Pandey Singh and other attending a public meeting after the nomination process of Hassan.
Chief Minister Soren targeting the BJP said that recently UPA camp has won two by-elections which was an easy victory for Grand Alliance, but the election of Madhupur is important for Grand alliance as JMM by winning the seat will give real respect and homage to late Haji Hussain Ansari. The Chief Minister Soren targeting BJP said that the Opposition by contesting Madhupur seat is wasting its time as the victory of JMM candidate is sure.
The Chief Minister on the occasion also praised Jamtara legislator Irfan Ansari saying that Ansari is a ground to earth man and he is always ready to help people. On the occasion, Parliamentary affairs minister Alamgir Alam said that by seeing the people who had turned up in the rally, ahead of the nomination process it is certain that the UPA candidate will win the election.
In the first week of February, Chief Minister Hemant Soren inducted Hafizul Hassan, son of former senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and ex minority affairs minister late Haji Hussain Ansari in his cabinet. Late Ansari had represented Madhupur seat in Deoghar district for three terms. The JMM by making Hassan minister aims at getting sympathy votes in Madhupur.
Hasaan, who is 11th Minister in the Soren Cabinet, has been made Minority Affairs Minister along with Minister of Tourism, Sports and Youth affairs.
The BJP is likely to field Ganga Narayan Singh from Madhupur by-election after he switched sides to BJP from AJSU Party camp three days back. Narayan took the membership of BJP at a function held at party office in presence of BJP Legislative party Leader Babulal Marandi and others.
Singh had contested Madhupur on Sudesh Mahto-led Ajsu Party ticket in the 2019 Assembly elections but finished third, garnering about 45,000 votes. While JMM’s Haji Hussain Ansari won the seat, BJP’s Raj Paliwar came second.
Meanwhile, the District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner, Manjunath Bhajantri informed that under the 13-Madhupur Assembly by-election, on Thursday, on the third day of the nomination process two candidates filed nomination papers.
Among those who filed nomination papers are Kishan Kumar Bathwal, Independent and Hafizul Hussan, candidates of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and cabinet minister in Jharkhand government. The nomination papers were filed under the Election Commission’s guideline due to the corona guidelines.