Congress candidate Naman Bixal Kongari on Sunday won the Kolebira Assembly byelection in Jharkhand, defeating BJP’s Basant Soreng by 9,658 votes. The election was held on December 20.
Mr. Kongari secured 40,343 votes, while Mr. Soreng of the BJP polled 30,685 votes, an Election Commission release said.
With this victory, the Congress will increase its tally to eight in the 82-member House.
The Kolebira seat in Simdega district had fallen vacant after sitting MLA Anosh Ekka of the Jharkhand Party was convicted in a murder case.
Anosh Ekka had won the Kolebira seat in 2009 and 2014 despite being in jail. His wife Menon Ekka contested the bypoll but lost poorly. In June 2018, Ekka was convicted by a district court of abduction and murder of a para-teacher, Manoj Kumar, and was sentenced to a life term.
The strongman of Kolebira, Ekka was often accused of having links with the People’s Liberation Front of India, a splinter Maoist group.
The Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, alliance partners, contested the by-poll separately as the JMM supported Ms. Ekka. JMM leader Hemant Soren even campaigned for Ms. Ekka in the Jaldega area.
The Congress got support from another ally Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), led by former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi. Many believe, the Kolebira bypoll result has signalled the revival of the Congress in Jharkhand, which, for the last few years, has been struggling to make its presence felt.
(With PTI inputs)