AJSU MLA offers seat for Sudesh Mahto after lone victory in Jharkhand elections

NEW DELHI: AJSU Party's lone MLA, Nirmal Mahto, on Sunday offered to resign from his Mandu seat to make way for party chief Sudesh Mahto, who lost the polls from Silli constituency. This comes after the AJSU Party, a BJP ally, contested 10 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly elections but secured only one, with a narrow margin of 231 votes.

“I have sent my resignation letter to Sudesh Mahto, requesting him to accept it so that he can contest from Mandu in the bypoll and enter the assembly,” said Nirmal Mahto, who defeated Congress candidate Jai Prakash Bhai Patel by a slender margin in Mandu.

Electoral resultsIn Mandu, Nirmal Mahto secured 90,871 votes, while Patel garnered 90,640. Interestingly, Patel had contested the 2019 elections as a BJP candidate and defeated Mahto with a margin of about 2,000 votes. However, after switching to the Congress, the BJP ceded the Mandu seat to the AJSU Party for this election.

Meanwhile, Sudesh Mahto faced a significant defeat in Silli, losing to JMM’s Amit Kumar by a margin of 23,867 votes.

Party’s responseJaleshwar Mahato, AJSU Party's central committee secretary, confirmed that Sudesh Mahto has received the resignation letter and will make a decision soon.

The AJSU Party’s poor performance in these elections highlights the challenges faced by smaller allies in coalition politics. A bypoll in Mandu could serve as a critical opportunity for Sudesh Mahto to re-establish his presence in the assembly.