2008 Simaria by-election

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Candidate Ram Chandra Ram Jay Prakash Singh Bhogta Yogendra Nath Baitha Party CPI JVM(P) INC Popular vote 30,700 23,092 19,700 Percentage 26.31% 19.79% 16.88%

On 4 February 2008 a by-election was held in for the Simaria (SC) seat of the Legislative Assembly of the Indian state of Jharkhand. The by-election was called after the death of the sitting MLA Upendra Nath Das.^[1]

Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Upendra Nath Das, who had been elected from Simaria in the 2005 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election, died from cancer on 6 August 2007.^[2] In the 2005 election his main competitors had been Ram Chandra Ram from the Communist Party of India and Yogendra Nath Baitha from the Rashtriya Janata Dal.^[3] The notification for the by-poll was issued on 10 January 2008.^[4]

Before the by-election the ruling coalition led by Madhu Koda held 42 out of the 82 seats of the Legislative Assembly; 17 from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, 9 from the Indian National Congress, 7 from RJD and 9 independents.^[5] As United Progressive Alliance partners could not agree of a single candidate, Koda declared himself neutral in the by-election and did not campaign for any candidate.^[6]

Fifteen nominations were presented for the by-election, but one candidate (Binod Bihari Paswan of UGDP) withdrew from the race.^[1][4] In total 12 men and 2 women stood as candidates.^[1] Nine of them stood as independents.^[1]

The by-election coincided with the lapse of a 60-day deadline that the Indian National Congress had put forth to Koda to comply with a number of demands, and the party threatened to bring down the government if unfulfilled.^[7] On 16 January 2008 the Indian National Congress declared that it would contest the by-election on its own.^[5]

Yogendra Nath Baitha had won the Simaria seat in the 2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election.^[8] He had served as the Jharkhand State Committee president of RJD.^[9] But ahead of the Simaria by-poll, RJD withdrew Baitha as its candidate for the sake of UPA unity. In response Baitha broke with the party and contested the by-poll as an Indian National Congress candidate instead.^[10][11] Baitha presented his nomination papers on 17 January 2008 in the presence of Jharkhand Congress state President Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu.^[12] One hypothesis on why Congress decided to break UPA ranks was that it sought to use the by-election to 'test the waters' ahead of the 2009 Legislative Assembly election.^[13] Notably, Congress leaders had expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the Koda cabinet in terms of development and corruption.^[5]

Union Ministers Ajay Maken and Subodh Kant Sahay campaigned in favour of Baitha.^[6]

26-year old Anjali Bhogta contested the election as an independent. A key demand of her campaign was the set-up a NTPC power plant at Tandwa. Her husband had been jailed, accused of belonging to the Tritiya Prastuti Committee (a Naxalite splinter group). Bhogta herself had been a BJP member.^[14] Fearing that her candidacy would draw voters from J.P.S. Bhogta, the JVM(P) actively tried to convince her to withdraw her nomination.^[14]

The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate was Jai Prakash Singh Bhogta, a political newcomer in his late 20s.^[1][15] Bhogta is the son of former legislator Mahendra Bhogta.^[16] Press reports claimed that JVM(P) would hire two helicopters to help Bhogta campaign across the constituency.^[16] Key JVM(P) leaders like Pradeep Yadav, Ravindra Rai, Theodore Kido and Saba Ahmad came to the constituency to campaign for Bhogta.^[16]

On 16 January 2008 BJP declared that it would field Kumar Ujjwal Das, Upendra Nath Das' son and political newcomer, as its candidate.^[17][18] The party hoped to benefit sympathy wave after the death of Das.^[16] He was a 26-year old management graduate of Jadavpur University.^[16] Ahead of the election Kumar Ujjwal Das faced opposition from BJP legislator Satyanand Bhogta from the nearby Chatra constituency who wished to field his wife as the BJP candidate instead.^[17]

Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha, former Chief Minister Arjun Munda as well as Jharkhand BJP chief P.N. Singh campaigned for Das.^[7][19]

The Jharkhand Party candidate Meena Devi was noted for declaring the largest assets, 1,430,000 Indian rupees and two buses.^[20]

Kuldeep Ganjhu contested the election behind bars as an independent.^[16] Once a Communist Party of India (Maoist) zonal commander, Ganjhu had been arrested in 2004.^[21] Ganjhu had requested to get a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket to contest the by-election.^[22]

CPI candidate Ram Chandra Ram had contested the Simaria seat since 1985.^[17] In the by-poll Ram's candidacy was backed-up by RJD, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).^[23][24] CPI Member of Parliament Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta declared Ram as the joint candidate of the United Progressive Alliance.^[17]

JMM declared its support for Ram on 16 January 2008 (after RJD and CPI(M) had already pledged their support), calling for unity of UPA partners to defeat communal forces.^[18] However, the Indian National Congress (key constituent of UPA) hesitated to support Ram, seemingly wanting to field a candidate of its own instead.^[18] Mehta requested Congress president Sonia Gandhi to withdraw their candidate in favour of Ram.^[6]

Seeking to distance itself from the Koda cabinet, CPI requested that neither Koda nor any of his ministers would campaign in favour of Ram.^[16] Union Railway Minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav campaigned in favour of Ram.^[25]

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) called for a boycott of the election.^[13] All 228 voting stations were declared as sensitive.^[13] 20 companies of paramilitary and other security forces were deployed across the constituency to ensure that the election was held.^[13] Authorities organized an aerial vigil on polling day.^[7] BJP legislator Satyanand Bhogta was put under preventive detention for some time during the election day.^[13]

Voting passed peacefully.^[26] Low turn-out was attributed to poll boycott and poor weather.^[13]

The counting of votes and declaration of the result was done on 7 February 2008. Ram Chandra Ram was declared as winner.^[1] He took his oath a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Ranchi on 8 February 2008.^[27]

The result was a set-back for BJP leader Arjun Munda, as it was the fourth consecutive by-election loss for BJP in the state.^[19]