All Jharkhand Student Union (AJSU) Party leader Yashoda Devi who has been named as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate for the Dumri assembly by-election will file her nomination on August 17. The bypoll is scheduled for September 5.
Doman Singh Munda, AJSU’s central parliamentary board member, said that Devi would file her nomination on August 17, the last date for nominations. “The central parliamentary board on Sunday cleared the name of Yashoda Devi as the party candidate for Dumri. She will contest as a joint candidate of the NDA,” he added. Senior leaders from both BJP as well as AJSU camp will accompany Baby Devi in her nomination.
Yashoda Devi will be up against cabinet minister and ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Baby Devi, whose husband Jagarnath Mahto’s death in April this year necessitated the by-polls.
During the assembly elections in 2019, Yashoda Devi contested as an AJSU candidate and came in second, losing to Jagarnath Mahto.
Baby Devi, the wife of former Jharkhand minister Jagarnath Mahto, was on June sworn-in as a minister in the Hemant Soren-led government. Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered her the oath of office. Devi’s husband Mahto, a four-time JMM legislator from Dumri, passed away following prolonged illness in April. The by-election to the Dumri assembly seat is yet to be announced.
Devi is the second JMM leader to become a minister in the Soren-led cabinet before being elected to the assembly.
After contesting the Lok Sabha elections together in 2019, the AJSU-BJP alliance broke up six months later due to disagreements over seat sharing in the assembly elections, which led to losses for both parties.
The combined vote share of both parties is higher than what Jagarnath Mahto garnered in his victory.
“In the Lok Sabha election, we received over 1 lakh votes from the Dumri assembly segment. This time, we have set a target of obtaining 1.5 lakh votes in this by-election. We will win, as we did in the Ramgarh assembly bypoll,” said a AJSU leader.