Ghatshila: In a significant development ahead of the Ghatshila Assembly by-election, scrutiny of nomination papers was conducted on Wednesday, resulting in the rejection of three candidates due to discrepancies in their documents. The candidates whose nominations were cancelled include Dukhi Ram Mandi, Malti Tudu, and Mangal Murmu.
With these rejections, the total number of valid candidates in the fray has come down to 14. Among the prominent contenders are Somesh Chandra Soren from JMM, BJP’s Babulal Soren, and JLKM’s Ramdas Murmu. Other candidates still in the race include Parmeshwar Tudu, Shrilal Kisku, Parvati Hansda of the Peoples Party of India, Narayan Singh, Vikas Hembram, Panchanan Soren from the Bharat Adivasi Party, Basant Kumar Topno, Manoj Kumar Singh, Vikram Kisku, and Ram Krishna Kanti Mahali.
Ghatshila will go to polls on November 11. The constituency has a total of 2,56,352 registered voters, out of which 1,31,235 are women—outnumbering male voters. Interestingly, despite this demographic edge, major political parties have so far failed to field a woman candidate in the constituency.
Vote counting is scheduled for November 14, in sync with the Bihar Assembly and other bypolls across the country. Candidates have until October 24 to withdraw their nominations.