State water resources minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary became the first person from the Sudesh Mahto-led All Jharkhand Students’ Union (AJSU) party to win the Lok Sabha elections. Choudhary, whose party contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with BJP, won the Giridih seat by a margin of 1,67,833 votes, defeating Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Jagarnath Mahato, the MLA from Dumri.
Choudhary got 4,36,015 votes, while Mahato received 2,68,182 votes. With Choudhary’s victory, AJSU will be able to send a representative to the Lok Sabha for the first time. The victory also proved the success of BJP’s experimentation with the Giridih seat, which the saffron party had won in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP and AJSU had entered a pre-poll alliance in the 2014 state assembly elections. Despite winning the Giridih seat for five consecutive terms, BJP was not hesitant to allot the Giridih seat to AJSU in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
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On Thursday, Choudhary took was in the lead as soon as counting for the first round began and maintained his lead till the last round of votes were counted. As the lead started increasing, celebrations intensified among AJSU and BJP workers at the counting centre in Giridih. Several AJSU and BJP supporters had arrived from Giridih, Bermo and Katras regions of Dhanbad district, which fall under the Giridih Lok Sabha constituency.
“It is a victory of people who have endorsed the development done by the state government and the Narendra Modi government in the last five years. I would work towards solving the problems faced by people,” said Choudhary, outgoing MLA from Ramgarh.
JMM candidate Jagarnath Mahto, who left the counting centre well before counting was completed, said that people’s will was subdued by money and muscle power of the ruling alliance. “I have not lost. Rather money and muscle power won the election in the Giridih seat. Despite this defeat, I would continue to serve the people of Giridih.”
First Published:
May 24, 2019 17:16 IST
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