Efforts are on to put up a consensus candidate in the by-election to the Lohardaga Assembly seat in Jharkhand after the sitting MLA of the AJSU party Kamal Kishore Bhagat lost his Assembly membership.
Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) has taken the initiative in this regard and JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat has held discussions with the president of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) Babulal Marandi and JMM working president Hemant Soren to put up a consensus candidate to defeat the BJP.
Bhagat lost his Assembly membership a week after being sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a local court.
He was awarded the prison sentence by the court in a case of attack on a doctor in 1993.
With the disqualification of Bhagat, the Assembly strength was reduced to 81 and AJSU, which had won five seats in the Assembly elections, has now four MLAs.
