Raghubar Das third J'khand CM to lose election while in office

Raghubar Das has become the third chief minister of Jharkhand to lose an assembly election while in office, after the father-son duo of Shibu Soren and Hemant Soren.

Das, an incumbent chief minister, was defeated by former Jharkhand minister Saryu Roy in Jamshedpur (East) seat in the just-concluded assembly polls.

Hemant Soren, who rode to power in the recent assembly polls, had been the second chief minister to lose an election battle in Jharkhand as he was defeated by Louis Marandi of BJP in 2014 in Dumka seat.

Soren had, however, won the Barhait seat in the same assembly elections in which the BJP had emerged the winner.

In 2009, Gopal Krishna Patar, as a candidate of the Jharkhand Party, had defeated the then chief minister Shibu Soren in a bypoll for Tamar assembly constituency.

Denied re-nomination from his sitting Jamshedpur (West) seat by the BJP, Roy had quit from the Raghubar Das Cabinet and fought against Das from Jamshedpur (East) as an independent candidate.

Roy trounced Das by over 12,000 votes in the recent assembly elections.

Jamshedpur (East) seat had been a stronghold of Raghubar Das who had been winning from here since 1995, while Roy had represented the adjoining Jamshedpur (West) seat for two terms.

This was for the first time in Jharkhand's history when a leader who served under a chief minister crossed swords with him in the polls.

Roy held the Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs portfolios for the last five years in the BJP-led NDA government in the state.

In January 2009, the then chief minister Shibu Soren was defeated in a bypoll for the Tamar assembly seat by political novice Gopal Krishan Patar, alias Raja Peter, of the Jharkhand Party by a margin of over 9,000 votes.

Soren, who became chief minister in August, 2008 had to become a member of the legislature within six months of assuming the post. His defeat in the Tamar bypoll forced him to resign.

Patar, now in jail in connection with a murder case, contested from Tamar constituency as Nationalist Congress Party candidate this time and lost it.