Bye-polls to Madhupur seat on April 17: EC

Ranchi: The bye-polls to the

Madhupur

assembly seat in Deoghar district will be held on April 17, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Tuesday.

The seat fell vacant in October last year after the death of Haji Hussain Ansari at a Ranchi-based private hospital due to post Covid-19 complications.

The septuagenarian was the state minority affairs minister. He was replaced in the state cabinet by his elder son Hafizul Hassan, who took the oath of office on February 5. Besides the minority affairs department, Hasan is also the incumbent minister of sports, arts, culture and youth affairs.

The EC notification said the nomination window for candidates will be open between March 24 and March 30 and the last date of withdrawal of nominations will be April 3. The counting of votes will be held on May 2 (along with the assembly polls in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu).

Reacting to the announcement, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “We were waiting for the announcement of the poll dates. Madhupur is close to our hearts because it is the place where Bengali educator and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar lived and worked for a long time (in Karmatar, where he lived for 18 years). The election also coincides with the Bengali New Year (April 15). We are confident people’s blessings.”

While a formal announcement will follow in the coming weeks, JMM is likely to hand its election ticket to Hassan for the seat.