Mandar bypoll in Jharkhand: Congress nominates disqualified MLA Bandhu Tirkey's daughter

Ranchi: The Congress on Wednesday named Shilpi Neha Tirkey, the daughter of former MLA Bandhu Tirkey, for the upcoming bypoll to the Mandar assembly seat in Jharkhand's Ranchi. The by-election to the assembly segment was necessitated after its MLA Bandhu Tirkey was disqualified as a member of the Jharkhand assembly on April 8, following a judgment by a special CBI court.

The special CBI court in Jharkhand had on March 28 sentenced Tirkey, a former minister in the state government, to three years in jail in a corruption case.

"Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the candidature of Shilpi Neha Tirkey as Congress candidate for the ensuing by-election to the legislative assembly of Jharkhand from Mandar constituency," said a statement from the AICC signed by Mukul Wasnik.

The CBI had filed the case against Tirkey, a three-term MLA and working president of the state Congress, in 2010 for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during his first stint as a legislator between 2005 and 2009.

Bandhu Tirkey had served as the education minister in the then Madhu Koda government of the Congress. He fought the 2019 state Assembly elections as a candidate of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (P) and later joined the Congress along with Poraiyahat MLA Pradeep Yadav after a split in the party following its merger with the BJP.

The nomination process for the upcoming by-election to the Mandar assembly constituency began on Monday. The bypoll will be held on June 23 and votes will be counted on June 26. Other political parties are yet to announce their nominees.