Gumla: Popular ward councillor candidates reaffirmed their strong public support by retaining the seats in Gumla and Lohardaga districts as results were declared on Friday.In Gumla, Krishna Kumar Mishra from Ward No. 2 and Hemlata Devi from Ward No. 17 were re-elected for the fourth term. Mishra registered the highest victory margin among the 22 wards of the Gumla Nagar Parishad, winning by over 1,000 votes.
“This is all due to the affection people have for me,” Mishra told TOI. Hemlata Devi also retained her seat for the fourth straight term from Ward No. 17. “People voted for me based on the work I did during my previous three terms,” she said.Jashwant Kaur from Ward No. 8 secured her third consecutive victory in Gumla.In Lohardaga, Avinash Kaur completed a hat-trick from Ward No. 8. Her family is the only one from the Sikh community in Lohardaga town.“During the last 10 years, we made our ward corruption-free and always stood beside the people. We worked honestly for their cause,” Avinash told TOI.Dinesh Kumar Pande of Lohardaga’s Ward No. 13 scripted history by being a ward councillor since 2008, when the first urban local bodies polls were initiated. He retained the seat for the fourth consecutive term, defeating Mir Arif by a margin of 284 votes. He secured 704 votes, while Arif got 420 votes. Around 45% voters comprised the Muslim population in this ward.“This is the result of doing work for the people and developing my ward honestly and sincerely,” Pande told TOI.
