By IANS
Ranchi : About 45 percent of the electorate for the by-poll to Jharkhand’s Simeria assembly seat voted amid tight security Monday.
Preliminary reports suggest that the low turnout could be attributed to bad weather and the poll boycott called by the Maoists, election commission officials said.
The seat fell vacant after legislator Upendra Nath Das of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) died of cancer two months ago. His son Kumar Ujjawal is the BJP candidate this time.
The three frontrunners are Yogendra Baitha of Congress, Kumar Ujjawal of BJP and Ram Chandra Ram of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
All 228 polling stations had been declared sensitive. Twenty companies of paramilitary forces, security personnel of Jharkhand Armed Forces and local police were deployed to ensure peaceful polling.
Former minister and BJP legislator Satyanand Bhokta was put under preventive detention and released later.
The result of the by-election is likely to indicate which way the political winds are blowing in the state.
The Congress, which has hardly any presence here, fielded its candidate against ruling coalition partner CPI. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal – another partner in the coalition – campaigned in favour of the CPI candidate.
The Congress is reportedly unhappy with the coalition government led by Chief Minister Madhu Koda. The party had given him a 60-day ultimatum demanding a common minimum programme and better governance. The 60 days ended Jan 15.
Political observers here feel the Congress is planning to go it alone in the next assembly elections and is testing the waters through this by-poll.