RANCHI: Campaigning for the bye-election to the Kolebira assembly segment in Simdega district ended on Tuesday evening. The polling is scheduled for Thursday.After giving a miss to canvassing since the nomination day, senior leaders of Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) finally campaigned for on the last day for their respective candidates and held public meetings and rallies in Kolebira and Thetaitangar blocks of the district, parts of which come under the assembly segment.While JMM executive president Hemant Soren campaigned for Jharkhand Party candidate Menon Ekka and sought votes for her , state Congress president Ajoy Kumar visited different villages with senior party functionaries to garner support for their candidate Naman Bixal Kongari.Though JMM supported Menon, the wife of disqualified MLA Enos Ekka, amid the objections of its UPA ally Congress, Soren said the grand alliance of opposition parties in Jharkhand was strong. "We are united. Our objective is to defeat the BJP, which is communal and against the tribal population of Jharkhand," Soren said at one of the rallies in Kolebira.The Congress, which is upbeat after its victories in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh assembly elections earlier this month, also predicted a convincing victory for their candidate.The BJP, which fielded its district ST Morcha president Basant Soreng, stayed away from pressing its frontline leaders into campaigning. Chief minister Raghubar Das and state BJP chief Laxman Gilua did not campaign for Soreng since he filed his nomination papers on December 3. In Ranchi state BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo downplayed the issue. "Kolebira is an assembly seat dominated by tribal vote share. The leaders of our tribal wing, including its president and Khijri MLA Ram Kumar Pahan, have been camping there. We have done all we could," Shahdeo said.However, political analysts said the BJP took the sheen off their campaigning to clear the field for Menon, whose husband Enos supported the incumbent Raghubar Das government in its key bills such as amendments to the Centre's 2013 land acquisition laws, state residents' policy, the CNT SPT Act Amendment Bill of 2016 and voted for BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls.Meanwhile, Simdega deputy commissioner Jata Shankar Chaudhary said polling will be conducted in 270 booths. "Seven zonal magistrates and 31 sectoral magistrates have been pressed into poll duty along with 1,350 polling agents. Ten companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed besides police forces in sensitive booths and remote areas," Chaudhary said. Kolebira has 1.89 lakh voters.As many as 22 booths have been designated as model booths. "Ten polling stations will be managed entirely by women polling agents," Chaudhary added.

Stay updated with all the Latest Ranchi headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.