SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 5: In a first trial run of the NDA’s strength to counter the newly formed INDIA alliance, over 64.84 per cent voters turned up today to cast their votes in the Dumri byelections.
Besides the electoral fate of the INDIA alliance, the prestige of the Hemant Soren government is also at stake as the bypoll was necessitated after the demise of Education minister and four-term MLA Jagarnath Mahto, a strong votary of the 1932 khatiyan based job policy in Jharkhand.
Mahto’s widow Baby Mahto is in fray opposite NDA (AJSU) candidate Yashoda Devi. Other candidates whose fate was sealed in the ballot box included Abdul Mobin Rizvi (AIMIM), Roshan Lal Turi (independent), Narayan Giri (independent) and Kamal Prasad Sahu (independent).
An official said that 64.84 percentage of voting was registered till the scheduled time of polling which is 5 pm.
The counting of votes would be held on September 8, the official said.
In the 2019 assembly election, 69.74 per cent of polling was registered in the Dumri constituency in which JMM candidate Jagarnath Mahto was declared the winner.
The voting today started on a brisk note and continued till the scheduled time of 5 pm at all 373 polling booths. Despite intermittent rains, long queues of voters, especially women, were seen outside the polling booths across the constituency.
The polling was conducted under heavy security arrangements with the deployment of Jharkhand Armed Police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel along with home guards.
The official said polling passed off peacefully and no untoward incident was reported from any of the 373 polling stations of which around 200 were identified as Maoist-affected booths,
JMM candidate Baby Devi, the Prohibition and Excise Minister of Jharkhand, cast her vote at a booth in Alargo village under Nawadih block in the Bokaro district. “I will fulfil the promise made by late Jagarnath Mahto (former minister) for people of the constituency,” she said.
AJSU party candidate Yashoda Devi cast her vote at a booth in Upgraded Middle School, Chainpur and exuded confidence in winning the seat.
AIMIM Md Abdul Mobin Rizvi also cast his vote in his village.
Over 2.98 lakh voters, including 1.44 lakh women, were voters in the by-election.
Complaints of non-functioning EVMs were reported from booths in the morning but they were replaced soon by the polling officers without any delay.
