Lohardaga Assembly by-poll deferred

Lohardaga: The by-election for the Lohardaga Assembly constituency, which was scheduled to be held on November 21, has now been deferred in view of the Panchayat Election in the state to be held next month.

The Election Commission, which had announced the date for the by-poll for Lohardaga, has withdrawn the notification for Lohardaga in view of the Panchayat Poll, said Deputy Commissioner of Lohardaga, Manjunath Bhajantri.

The by-poll is now stand deferred, he said adding that a new date for the by-election would be announced soon.

The EC has directed Lohardaga district administration to complete the by-election process for the constituency by December 22.

The state election commission and the Lohardaga deputy commissioner had appealed to the EC to defer the by-election till completion of panchayat polls, which would take place in four phases from November 22.

The Lohardaga Assembly seat fell vacant after the sitting MLA, Kamal Kishore Bhagat of AJSU Party lost his membership after being convicted and jailed in an attempt to murder case in June. =