Jharkhand: AJSU Party announces Yashoda Devi as candidate for Dumri bypoll

 The AJSU Party on Sunday announced Yashoda Devi as its candidate for the September 5 by-election to the Dumri assembly seat in Jharkhand. AJSU Party spokesperson Dev Sharan Bhagat, in a press briefing, said the party is contesting the bypoll in alliance with the BJP.

The decision to field Yashoda Devi from the seat was taken in a core committee meeting of the party held here on Sunday, he said. "Devi will file her nomination on August 17 in the presence of NDA leaders. The NDA will repeat the history of Ramgarh bypoll by winning the Dumri assembly seat," he asserted.

Earlier in the day, AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto met BJP state president Babulal Marandi and Jharkhand in-charge Laxmikant Bajpai at the state BJP headquarters and held a discussion on the Dumri bypoll, Bhagat said. The bypoll will take place on September 5, while the votes will be counted on September 8. The last date for filing nomination is August 17.

The ruling alliance has fielded Bebi Devi, a JMM candidate and widow of former education minister Jagarnath Mahto, for the by-election. She will file her nominations on August 17. The by-election was necessitated after the death of Mahto at a Chennai hospital on April 6 this year after prolonged illness. The Soren government has already given Devi the status of a cabinet minister. She was sworn in as a minister on July 3 this year. In 2019 assembly polls, JMM's Mahto had defeated AJSU Party's Devi by a margin of 34,288 votes.