Ranchi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi will visit Jharkhand to campaign for Independent candidate Dev Kumar Dhan in the by-poll to Mandar assembly seat, an official said on Saturday.
Owaisi will visit Ranchi on Sunday and the police have made elaborate security arrangements in view of it.
The AIMIM president will address a poll meeting at Charo ground in Chanho block of Ranchi district. The administration has allowed a gathering of only 500 people, the official said.
AIMIM Jharkhand president Mohammed Shakir told PTI that Owaisi will arrive at Ranchi airport by 12 noon. “We have been allotted time from 2 pm to 4.30 pm for the programme”.
Various issues related to development of Jharkhand will be discussed at the meeting between Owaisi and AIMIM Jharkhand unit, he said.
By-election in Mandar, a tribal constituency, is scheduled to be held on June 23. Votes will be counted on June 26.
The election was necessitated after the disqualification of its MLA Bandhu Tirkey in the wake of his conviction in a corruption case.
His daughter Shilpa Neha Tirkey will contest as the candidate for the JMM-led alliance. Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur campaigned for her.
BJP has nominated former legislator Gangotri Kujur from the seat. Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi on Saturday visited several villages in the constituency as part of her poll campaign.
In the 81-member Jharkhand House the ruling UPA has 48 MLAs – JMM 30, Congress 17 and RJD one. Opposition has NDA 28 members – BJP 26 and AJSU two. There are two independents and NCP and CPI(ML) have one lawmaker each. Mandar is the only vacant seat.
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