Independent candidate Saryu Roy is leading from the Jamshedpur East constituency in Jharkhand and looks set to defeat Chief Minister Raghubar Das. He is leading by 5,894 votes.
After he was left out of the BJP’s list of candidates for the Jharkhand elections, Roy filed his nomination against Das as an Independent candidate. He also quit from the Cabinet as minister of food and civil supplies as well as the state Assembly on November 19.
Roy, a two-time MLA from Jamshedpur West, was denied ticket from this constituency by the BJP.
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He, according to NDTV, had exposed several corruption scandals in undivided Bihar and after the formation of Jharkhand. His efforts put former chief ministers like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Madhu Koda in jail for corruption.
Roy, as The Print pointed out, dug out all the documents related to the fodder scam and filed a detailed petition in the matter in the high court.
He also compiled documents to prove irregularities in mining operations in the state. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda was convicted in the Rs 4,000 crore mining scam in 2017, The Print report added.
After filing his nomination from Jamshedpur East, Roy said he is on a mission to expose Das, according to The Wire. He claimed Das was so corrupt that even Narendra Modi and Amit Shah could not help improve his image.
Roy told The Hindu that he raised issues about corruption in the Raghubar Das government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very responsive. “Amit Shah did try to patch things up between me and Raghubar Das but it didn’t last long. After waiting and being “rewarded” with the humiliation of having been denied a ticket, I walked out,” he further told The Hindu.
“Whether I left the BJP or it threw me out is still a question,” he added.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) working president Hemant Soren had appealed to all non-BJP parties to support Roy and called him an “honest leader”.