JMM candidate Bebi Devi won the by-poll to the Dumri assembly seat in Jharkhand's Giridih district on Friday, surpassing AJSU party nominee Yashoda Devi by over 17,000 votes, according to a district administration official, news agency PTI reported. According to the official, the JMM candidate, who is also the INDIA block nominee, received around 1,35,480 votes, while NDA candidate Yashoda Devi received approximately 1,18,380 votes. Bebi Devi is the wife of Jagarnath Mahto, a former Jharkhand minister whose death in April prompted the by-election.
She described her triumph as a 'genuine homage' to Mahto, who had held the seat since 2004.
Speaking about the results, JMM Rajya Sabha MP Dr Mahua Maji stated: "The credit goes to the people of Dumri that they did not forget late Jagarnath Mahto's work."
The by-election voting took place on September 5. According to an Election Commission official, 64.84 percent of the 2.98 lakh voters had casted their votes in the Dumri assembly seat by-election in Jharkhand on Tuesday.
The turnout was somewhat lower than in 2019, when 69.74% of the electorate voted. "The election passed off peacefully across 199 polling booths in Giridih and 174 booths in Bokaro district. No report of violence or law and order situation was reported from anywhere," Giridih district election officer Naman Priyesh Lakra had informed PTI.
Voting took place in 373 polling stations, 200 of which were designated as Maoist-affected regions. The Jharkhand Armed Police and the CRPF, according to the poll administration, were deployed to ensure peaceful voting.
The INDIA bloc consists of 28 parties, including the Congress, the NCP group led by Sharad Pawar, the Shiv Sena (UBT), the TMC, JMM, the AAP, the DMK, the NC, the PDP, the CPI(M), the CPI, the RJD, the SP, and the RLD. The by-election was called when JMM MLA Jagarnath Mahto, a former education minister, died in April. Mahto had held the position since 2004.