JMM leader and minister Hafijul Hassan Ansari has won with a margin of 5,247 votes over his nearest rival Ganga Narayan Singh of the BJP in the by- election to the Madhupur assembly constituency, according to the Election Commission.

Hasan has polled 1,10,812 votes while his rival BJP candidate has to his credit 1,05,565 votes after the eighth round of counting, an EC spokesperson said.

The bypoll in Madhupur in Deoghar district, which took place on April 17, was necessitated by the death of former minister Haji Hussain Ansari, father of the JMM nominee, on October 3 last year.

Four Independent candidates - Ashok Kumar Thakur, Rajendra Kumar, Uttam Kumar Yadav and Kishan Kumar Bathwal, who were also in the fray - have polled 3,924; 2,409; 2,003 and 1,033 votes, respectively. According EC website 5,123 votes went to NOTA.

Left parties who are not part of the JMM-led UPA government in Jharkhand decided to support Hafijul Hassan for the Madhupur bypoll.

In a joint media statement issued at the CPM state office in Ranchi, four Left parties — CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) and Marxist Coordination Committee — had announced their support to the JMM-UPA candidate.

“We had extended our support to the UPA candidates at Bermo and Dumka bypolls against the BJP candidates and have decided to do the same for Madhupur. This has been done as a protest against the pro-corporate policies of the BJP government reflected in the new farm laws, privatisation of national assets and dismal employment opportunities,” said Prakash Viplav on behalf of the joint coordination committee of the Left parties.

Left parties do not have a sizable presence in Madhupur constituency but have a few pockets of where factory workers have shown their support for the Left parties.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who was the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's star campaigner for the seat, congratulated Hasan for the victory and thanked the people of the constituency for electing him.

Referring to the West Bengal elections, Soren said that people there have given a befitting reply to the BJP and alleged that the saffron party misused a constitutional authority like the Election Commission which is a cause of serious concern.