EC defers Jharkhand's Lohardaga by-poll

Keeping in mind the request of the Jharkhand state poll panel to defer the Lohardaga assembly by-poll till the panchayat polls end there on December 12, the Election Commission on Saturday revoked its order a by-election from 72-Lohardaga (ST) assembly constituency.

"Having considered the matter, the commission hereby rescinds its announcement of by-election from 72-Lohardaga (ST) assembly constituency in the legislative assembly of Jharkhand," an official statement issued here said.

A separate schedule for holding a by-election from the said assembly constituency will be announced at an appropriate time so that the process of it is completed before December 22, 2015, the statement read.

The panchayat polls will be held in Lohardaga between November 22 and December 12.

Shiva Basant, the chief of the state's poll panel, had requested the Election Commission to hold the by-poll after December 12, a source in the election commission office told IANS.

The assembly seat fell vacant after All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) legislator Kamla Kishore Bhagat was awarded seven years imprisonment in a case related to extortion and attempt to murder.

He lost membership of the assembly after he was convicted by a Ranchi court in July this year.