Cong authorises Sonia to pick candidate for Bermo

Ranchi: The Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC), part of coalition government in the state, has decided to authorise AICC president Sonia Gandhi to take a final call on the candidate for the Bermo assembly seat which will go for bypolls on November 3, along with Dumka. On Wednesday, JPCC’s election committee met under the chairmanship of party president Rameshwar Oraon to discuss the potential candidates.
Although names of four candidates have been recommended from the district and block-level units to the state leadership, late Bermo MLA Rajendra Prasad Singh’s son, Jaimangal Singh, is likely to be given the ticket, party sources told TOI after the meeting. “On the basis of its on-field survey and internal feedback, the state Congress unit is going to recommend Jaimangal’s name to the central leadership,” a party source informed.
When asked, Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey only said that Jaimangal is a frontrunner. “Party will announce the names after running them by the central leadership, but of all the probable candidates, Jaimangal is a front runner,” he added.
Oraon informed that the election committee has discussed the names recommended by the district unit to the state leadership and they have decided to authorize national party president (Sonia Gandhi) to take the final call. “As per the tradition within Congress, the central leadership will put its final seal on the candidate,” Oraon, who is also the state finance minister, said.
Meanwhile, Congress’s leader of legislative party and state rural development minister Alamgir Alam appeared confident of the party winning the Bermo seat. “Bermo has always been our stronghold and we got a landslide mandate there in last year’s assembly polls and the by-election results will be no different this time,” he said.
While Bermo fell vacant following the demise of Singh in May, bye-election in Dumka is mandated after chief minister Hemant Soren vacated it to retain Barhati after last year’s assembly polls. In Dumka, JMM has announced Soren’s younger brother as the grand alliance’s candidate.