Ranchi: Kalpana Soren, wife of former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, has won the Gandey assembly by-election in Giridih district. She defeated her rival Dilip Kumar Verma of the Bharatiya Janata Party by about 26 thousand votes. Counting of votes has been completed. But, the Election Commission has not officially announced the result here.
Reportedly the Gandey seat fell vacant on January 1 due to the resignation of MLA Dr. Sarfaraz Ahmed. Kalpana Soren was trailing in the initial six rounds of counting, but after that she gained a steady lead. Kalpana Soren has entered active politics after her husband Hemant Soren went to jail on January 31. Her formal entry into politics took place on March 4 with a rally organized in Giridih on the foundation day of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Kalpana Soren is currently not holding any post in Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Despite this, during the Lok Sabha election campaign, she emerged as the biggest star campaigner in the state not only on behalf of her party but also on behalf of the ‘Bharat’ alliance. On April 21, a big rally was jointly organized by the ‘Bharat’ alliance in Ranchi and after this she became the biggest face of the alliance in the state. She held public meetings in favor of the alliance candidates in all 14 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state and in a way covered every nook and corner of the state within two and a half months.
The party provided her a helicopter, with which she was able to hold three to four rallies a day. Kalpana Soren prominently raised the issue of Hemant Soren’s arrest in election rallies. She presented the details of the government’s work for tribals, women and youth in her own unique style. She also targeted the central government and BJP in her speeches.
