Palamu bypoll result 'acid-test' for koda government

Ranchi, Apr 1 (UNI) Counting for Palamu LS by-election slated tomorrow will not only be an ''acid test'' for the six-month-old UPA backed Madhu Koda government but also decide the fate of ''political stalwarts'' of Jharkhand.

About 50.6 per cent of the total 13.66 lakh electorate had exercised their franchise at 1301 polling centres in the by-election to the Naxal-dominated Palamu Lok Sabha.

Repolling was being done at the four polling centres following certain complaints during the by-election on March 29.

The bypoll was necessitated after Mr Manoj Bhuiyan(RJD) lost his Lok Sabha seat following the cash-for-query scam.

Political analyst feel results of this by-election would be 'mandate-indicator' for the six-month-old Madhu Koda government and also shape the political fate of former Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari and Jharkhand's former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha leader Babulal Marandi.

Mr Marandi won the by-election to Koderma Paliament seat as an independent candidate after reisgning from BJP and Mr Namdhari was left with the ''Karo or Maro''(do or die) situation after he resigned from the Daltonganj as JD-U MLA to support the BJP candidate Jawahar Paswan in the Palamu bypoll.

Earlier, the main contest was believed to be in between Ghuran Ram of the RJD and the BJP's Jawahar Paswan whereas others Kameshwar Baitha of the BSP, Prabhat Bhuyian from the JVM(P) and Sudha Choudhary from the SP had their own massbase in the area.

The Palamu parliamentary area consists of two districts- Garwah and Palamu- and six assembly segments- Daltonganj, Bhawnathpur, Chatarpur, Garwah, Hussainabad and Vishrampur.

Out of the six assembly seats, four belonged to the UPA affliated parties.

The political fight in the Palamu became heated and FIR was lodged against former Chief Minister Arjun Munda and RJD MLA Girinath Singh after the BJP and RJD party workers had skirmish during the bypoll.

Union Steel Minister and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Union Minister of State Subodh Kant Sahay, Chief Minister Madhu Koda, BJP's President Rajnath Singh, Vice-president and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, JVM president Babulal Marandi participated in rallies in favour of their candidates on the eve of the by-election.

Meanwhile, security arrangements had been made at the Deria locality outside Daltonganj district headquarters for the counting of votes slated tomorrow.

UNI