Wife of jailed former chief minister Hemant Soren is set to contest bypoll from Gandey assembly seat. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Thursday announced Kalpana Soren's decision.
The seat in the Giridih district fell vacant following the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad.
The bypoll to Gandey assembly seat is scheduled on May 20 along with the parliamentary elections in the state.
The JMM also announced the candidature of Sameer Mohanty from Lok Sabha seat.
Kalpana, a homemaker with MTech and MBA qualifications, completed her school education in Baripada in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district and obtained her engineering and MBA degrees from separate institutions in Bhubaneswar.
Kalpana took centre stage on March 4, when she claimed that a conspiracy was hatched by opponents ever since the Hemant Soren-led coalition government came to power in 2019.
During the INDIA bloc's 'Ulgulan Nyay' rally in Ranchi, Kalpana read out her husband's message saying central agencies such as the ED and the CBI are being misused to suppress the opposition's voice. "But BJP and such forces will be driven out from Jharkhand," she said.
Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam on January 31.
