Palamu set for triangular contest as campaign ends

Ranchi, Mar 27 (UNI) Campaigning ended at 1700 hours this evening for the March 29 byelection to reserved Palamu parliamentary seat which was necessitated after Mr Manoj Bhuiyan(RJD) lost his Lok Sabha seat following the cash-for-query scam.

The stage is set for a triangular contest among UPA, NDA and JVM(D), despite presence of 12 other aspirants in the fray.

The prominent three candidates are Mr Jawahar Paswan (BJP), Mr Prabhat Bhuiyan (JVM-D) and Mr Ghuran Ram (RJD).

EVMS will be used in all polling booths, as an estimated 13,66,000 electorates were eligible to excercise franchise in the constituency, comprising two districts - Garwah and Palamu - spread over six Assembly segments - Daltonganj, Bhawnathpur, Chatarpur, Garwah, Hussainabad and Vishrampur.

At present, out of six Assembly seats, four were under the UPA allies.

About 50 companies of paramilitary forces, including 15,000 security personnel were deployed to ensure smooth polling to be held at 1,301 booths.

BJP national president Rajnath Singh and former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha were among the two prominent persons who came to campaign for the party candidate, while Railway Minister and RJD president Lalu Prasad and Union Minister R D Minister Raghuvansh Prasad addressed election rallies on behalf of the UPA nominee.

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