RANCHI: Ghatshila Assembly by-poll will be held on November 11 along with the Bihar Assembly elections. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Tuesday announced the date for the Ghatshila Assembly by-election during a press conference at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
The counting of votes will take place on November 14. The by-election notification will be issued on October 13. The deadline for candidate nominations is October 21.
Nominations can be withdrawn until October 24. With the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct has come into immediate effect in the Ghatshila Assembly constituency.
Initially, there was some confusion whether the code would apply to the entire district or just the constituency, but the Election Commission has clarified that it will be enforced only within the concerned Assembly segment.
The Election Commission has assured that all necessary steps are being taken to ensure that the polling process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
Notably, the Ghatshila constituency had fallen vacant this year after the death of State Education Minister Ramdas Soren in Delhi following a prolonged illness.
The constituency, which has remained a traditional fortress of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, was won only once by the BJP in 2014. No party has yet announced their candidates. However, Somesh Soren, son of the former Education Minister Ramdas Soren, is likely to be fielded by JMM. On the other hand, the BJP is again going to keep its hopes alive by giving a ticket to former Chief Minister Champai Soren’s son Babulal Soren, who was defeated by Ramdas Soren in the 2024 Assembly polls.