Congress candidate and PCC chief Sukhdeo Bhagat today said he will file his nomination papers for the December 14 bypoll to the Lohardaga (ST) Assembly constituency on November 26.
"I will file my papers on November 26," Bhagat said over phone, describing the talks with UPA allies JMM and RJD as "positive."
Yesterday, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president and former chief minister Hemant Soren had said the JMM would field its candidate if efforts for a consensus UPA candidate failed, hours after PCC General Secretary Alok Dubey said the Congress had officially announced Bhagat's candidature and he would file his nomination papers today.
The seat fell vacant after the disqualification of Ajsu party MLA Kamal Kishore Bhagat following his conviction and seven-year sentence in a 1993 case of attack on a doctor.
The Sudesh Mahto-led Ajsu party has nominated Bhagat's wife Niru Bhagat as the party's candidate for the bypoll, which its senior ally, the BJP, has agreed to.
The two ruling parties had fought the Assembly elections in alliance and the Ajsu candidate won the Lohardaga seat in December last year.
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate and former minister Bandhu Tirkey has filed papers from the seat.
The counting of votes would be taken up on December 17.
Earlier, the Election Commission had postponed the Lohardaga (ST) bypoll from November 21 to December 14 following the (ongoing) three-tier panchayat elections between November 22 and December 12 in Jharkhand.
