All 13 candidates in fray hope voters will turn up on Friday

Of the 13 contestants in the Dumka bypoll fray, the battle is mainly among four: JMM’s Shibu Soren, Congress’ Simon Marandi, BJP&#...

Of the 13 contestants in the Dumka bypoll fray, the battle is mainly among four: JMM’s Shibu Soren, Congress’ Simon Marandi, BJP’s Ramesh Hembram, and Padmuni Hansda.

Unlike the three men from mainstream political parties, Hansda is a housewife-turned-school teacher. She said she is a feminist and she knows she will lose. ‘‘I know I’ll lose but I’m confident I will end up exposing my rivals who have made fortunes for themselves and done nothing to end poverty, illiteracy and exploitation of women,’’ she said. The bypoll came about after Chief Minister Babulal Mar-andi of BJP vacated the seat last year as an Independent candidate.

In the polls scheduled for May 31, Hansda is considered no match for Soren, Marandi or Hembram. All three are trying hard to woo the 10.25-lakh electorate. Campaigning, however, remains low key with some posters, wall write-ups, banners and loudspeakers doing the rounds.

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Even BJP Rajya Sabha member Shatrughan Sinha and Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi of the Congress have failed to draw crowds bigger than 5,000. ‘‘Maybe people have lost interest in elections. And the onset of pre-monsoon rains have pushed them to farm work,’’ Hansda said.

The interest may be low but the risk perception is high. As many as 426 of 686 booths have been identified as sensitive and 20 companies of security forces have been deployed for the bypoll. ‘‘We hope the poll is fair,’’ said Dumka’s Returning Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Vikas Kumar.

The Santhals, who are Christians and Muslims, are 900,000 strong. Their polling trend would play a big role in determining the outcome. Elections here have always been a Santhal affair: this time too, all candidates are Santhals. Marandi and Hembram are also known as defectors. In the 1999 mid-term Lok Sabha polls, Marandi defeated Soren’s wife, Rupi, by over 4,000 votes. As JMM candidate, Marandi, however, lost in the adjoining Rajmahal Lok Sabha seat and was forced to vacate the seat. He joined the Congress recently.

Hembram — son of a retired civil servant — who fought from Dumka during the same poll on a Congress ticket joined BJP last month. Babulal Marandi is spearheading his campaign. The voters comprise Dalits and Santhals — 70 per cent of whom are illiterate — as also 110,000 Muslims, 75,000 Christian Santhals and 1.25 Vaishya castes.