Ranchi: Allaying apprehensions of a low turnout amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of voters turned up at polling booths in
Dumka and
Bermo constituencies on Tuesday with both the prestigious seats managing voting figures close to those recorded in the 2019 state election.
As per the figures released by the Jharkhand chief electoral officer, Dumka recorded a turnout of 65.27% while the figure for Bermo stood at 60.20%. In December, Dumka’s voting percentage stood at 66.89% while Bermo recorded 60.13%. Poll officials and political parties also applauded the voters in rural pockets for exercising their franchise when harvesting season is at its peak.
The bypolls on two seats in the state, the first since the Hemant Soren government came to power 10 months ago, remained peaceful amid heightened Covid safety norms at the booths. The elections were also the first in the state since the outbreak of the virus, but the joint chief electoral officer of Jharkhand, Hiralal Mandal in Ranchi said that the entire process remained smooth as per plan.
He said, “I thank all poll officials for conducting peaceful and safe elections in times of Covid. Most importantly, people turned out in good numbers defying all fears and apprehensions because of aggressive awareness drive. We also followed all prescribed safety norms at the booths.”
While voting began at 7am in both constituencies, it ended at 4pm in Bermo and an hour later in Dumka. In Dumka, a total of 368 booths were set up and Bermo had 468, Mandal said. “We made arrangements of webcasting from 76 booths in Dumka and 87 in Bermo for better supervision,” he said.
The
bypoll in Dumka was necessitated after chief minister and JMM’s working president Hemant Soren vacated the seat to retain Barhait after winning from both in 2019. In Bermo, the seat fell vacant after the demise of Congress MLA Rajendra Prasad Singh.
In Dumka, JMM fielded Hemant’s younger brother Basant while in Bermo, Congress has put up Singh’s son, Kumar Jaimangal. BJP on the other hand has put up their ex-MLAs — Lois Marandi in Dumka and Yogeshwar Mahto Batul in Bermo.
Dumka is a prestige seat for JMM considered as traditional stronghold. For the ruling alliance, retaining both the seats will be a testimony to its popularity after coming to power while for BJP it is an opportunity to retain its lost base by upping its tally in the state assembly.
Following the voting, both ruling and opposition camps interpreted that the good turnout was in their favour. Chief minister Hemant Soren said, “I thank the voters for turning out in large numbers and I also thank officials for the smooth conduct of the polls,” he said in a social media post.
JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee said the verdict on November 10 is just a formality. “JMM will be winning Dumka with a bigger margin going by the way people voted in our favour despite the tough times. They chose to back the Hemant Soren government in the interest of the state and its progress. BJP, which has been predicting our fall after this bypolls, will be short of answers when the verdict is out on November 10,” he said.
Congress’s state president Rameshwar Oraon said, “We are retaining both the seats without a doubt going by the response we received during campaigning. People have rejected BJP in 2019 and they will be doing so this time,” he said. Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey and Lal Kishorenath Shahdeo claimed BJP’s “vindictive” campaign will cost them dear. “Our campaign was built on development against BJP’s futile attempts to demean our leaders through regressive campaigning,” they said.
BJP on the other hand said the high turnout is in their favour. Party’s state general secretary Aditya Sahu said people have voted in hordes to oust JMM and Congress from both the seats. “They have voted against the 10 months of lawlessness and misgovernance,” he said, adding that the party has filed five complaints before ECI on Tuesday against JMM-Congress’s misdeeds to influence voters on the day of polling and criminal intimidation attempts against BJP workers.