The Mandar Assembly constituency in Ranchi district, bypolls for which is slated for June 23, is fast becoming a battleground.

Both the ruling Grand Alliance of the JMM, Congress and the RJD and the Opposition consisting of the BJP and the Ajsu Party are making allegations against each other on some pretext almost everyday.

The latest was when the Congress leaders, accompanied by those from the JMM, approached the state’s chief electoral officer (CEO) for taking action against the BJP, accusing the saffron party of violating the model code of conduct when it held a rally involving the tribals in Ranchi on Sunday.

The Congress submitted a letter to the CEO, accusing the BJP national president J.P. Nadda, while addressing the rally in presence of the top brass of the party’s state unit, mentioned the name of Gangotri Kujur, the party candidate for Mandar and appealed to “help bloom lotus (the party symbol)”.

“The expenditure involved in the rally should be treated as election expenditure of that candidate if permission was granted for the rally,” they demanded, informed JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya who accompanied the Congress delegation, adding otherwise the BJP should be charged for violating the model code of conduct for holding the rally without permission.

“We have also submitted a pendrive containing proof of our claim,” said Congress spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad who was a part of the delegation.

BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash, however, rubbished their claim, saying the model code of conduct was applicable within the limits of the constituency only and the venue of the rally was outside it.

“If it’s so, why did they complain when our state unit mentor Avinash Pandey held a press conference at our party headquarters during the recent panchayat elections?” shot back Congress spokesperson Prasad.

“We lodged a complaint because Pandeyji then tried to influence the election process by offering organisational posts to such candidates who would win,” his BJP counterpart Pratul Sahdeo replied when asked.

Such allegations and counter allegations are likely to continue as the campaign picks up over the next two weeks.

Bypolls for Mandar Assembly constituency, reserved for ST, was necessitated following disqualification of the incumbent Congress MLA Bandhu Tirkey who was recently convicted in a disproportionate asset case.

The Congress has fielded Bandhu’s daughter, Shilpi Neha Tirkey. Chief minister Hemant Soren accompanied her when she went to file nomination, indicating she was the candidate for the ruling combine.

The BJP, on the other hand, picked up former MLA Gangotri Kujur to take on her.

Though it is likely to be a multi-cornered contest, Tirkey can expect support from other ruling allies, JMM and RJD.

The BJP candidate, Kujur, will however face opposition from a rebel candidate, Deb Kumar Dhan, who had unsuccessfully contested the seat on the BJP ticket in 2019 and now filed nomination as an Independent.

The BJP held the rally on Sunday in Ranchi for mobilising tribal support as “it had lost 16 of the 18 ST seats in 2019”, Congress state president Rajesh Thakur had said after the rally.

The political observers, however, feel both the ruling combine and the BJP have reason to give much importance to Mandar bypolls as it is a sort of dry run for the 2024 general election, particularly in the tribal belt of the state.