Jharkhand assembly elections: Hours after mom's death, Congress candidate files nomination in Ranchi

RANCHI: In poll-bound Jharkhand, candidates from various parties have been arriving to file their nomination papers with large groups of supporters, music bands, and party flags and banners. However, on Friday morning, Congress party’s Kanke (SC) candidate Suresh Kumar Baitha's nomination procession was muted.
He arrived with moist eyes and a heavy heart at the returning officer’s chambers to file his papers. He was in a hurry as his 89-year-old mother, Dashami Devi, passed away only six hours earlier.
Baitha’s name was announced by the Grand Old Party late on Thursday night in its third list of candidates. When the news broke, Baitha was by his mother’s side at a private hospital in Rajaulatu in Namkum block, where she was admitted on Thursday evening after suddenly falling ill. "All of us brought our mother back home as doctors said she would need dialysis, which was not available at the hospital. She was in her senses and was talking to us. When she learnt that my brother was fielded for the Kanke seat, she summoned him to her bedside and gave him her blessings. Then, around 4 am, her condition deteriorated, and she breathed her last an hour later," Fuleshwar Baitha, Suresh’s younger brother, told TOI.
"My mother's mortal remains will be taken for cremation around 4 pm, after Bhaiya files his nomination," Fuleshwar said. Suresh, 40, juggled between personal and political commitments throughout the day. After overseeing the arrangements for his mother’s cremation, he drove to meet JMM President Shibu Soren and seek his blessings. Then, his pruned entourage reached the district collectorate building to file his papers.
"Losing a parent is unbearable pain. I lost my mother today. She watched me fight three times from the Kanke (SC) seat but did not see me win," a visibly emotional Suresh told TOI. "But a duty is a duty. My party has entrusted me with responsibility and placed its faith in me by making me a candidate. Since today is the last day of nominations, I have come to file my papers," he added.
Suresh hoped that he would get lucky in his fourth attempt. "My mother blessed me on her deathbed. She is gone now. I will request the women electorate of my segment to give me one chance this time," he said. In 2019, Baitha contested on a Congress ticket from Kanke and lost to BJP’s Samri Lal by over 20,000 votes.