Kalpana Soren files nomination as JMM candidate from Gandey Assembly seat

Jailed Jharkhand ex-chief minister Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana on Monday, 29 April, filed her nomination as the JMM candidate from Gandey assembly seat in the state.

Bypoll to the seat is scheduled on 20 May along with the parliamentary elections in the state.

The seat in Giridih district fell vacant following the resignation of JMM MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad.

Kalpana, 48, was accompanied by Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren and brother-in-law Basant Soren, among others, when she filed her papers.

Kalpana, a homemaker with MTech and MBA qualifications, completed her school education from Baripada in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district and obtained her engineering and MBA degrees from separate institutions in Bhubaneswar.

Her political journey began at the 51st foundation day celebration of the JMM in Giridih district on 4 March, when she claimed that a conspiracy had been orchestrated by opponents ever since the Hemant Soren-led coalition government came to power in 2019 and that Jharkhand would give a befitting reply to the forces who put her husband behind the bars.

Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam on 31 January.