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Congress candidate Shilpi Neha Tirkey won the by-election for Jharkhand's Mandar seat on Sunday, defeating her nearest rival, BJP's Gangotri Kujur, by a margin of 23,517 votes.
AIMIM-backed Independent candidate Dev Kumar Dhan occupied the third slot with 22,395 votes. A total of 14 candidates were in the electoral fray in the by-election for the Mandar assembly constituency which is reserved for the ST category. Polling for the seat was held on June 23. Expressing her joy after the victory, Shilpi Neha Tirkey said, "This is the victory of people of this constituency who showered their love on me. I will accelerate the development work left by Baba (father) after his disqualification. With the guidance of Baba, I will be able to overcome all hurdles that may come in my way." Bypoll for the seat was necessitated after Shipi's father and Jharkhand Congress working president Bandhu Tirkey was declared disqualified following the convection in a case of disproportionate assets. Shilpi has become the fourth UPA candidate to win the Assembly by-election in the state since the formation of the UPA government led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Basant Soren from Dumka, Kumar Jaimangal Singh from Bermo and Minister Hafizul Hasan from Madhupur have claimed the by-polls before Shilpi Neha Tirkey. Mandar used to be a Naxal hotbed a few years back. The seat is a tribal reserved seat with a tribal population of around 1.75 lakh. In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the ruling UPA has 48 MLAs - JMM 30, Congress 17 and RJD one. The NDA has 28 MLAs with BJP having 26 and AJSU two. (ANI)
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