THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, April 5: Jharkhand’s first Energy Minister, Lalchand Mahto (72), has passed away in Ranchi. On Thursday at 11 pm, he fell unconscious in the bathroom of his flat in Amravati Apartment, Lalpur, Ranchi, after which his family took him to a private hospital in Lalpur, where doctors declared him dead.
Mahto was the Energy Minister in the first government formed after the formation of Jharkhand. However, he is considered to have played a role in destabilizing the government of Jharkhand’s first Chief Minister, Babulal Marandi. He opposed Babulal Marandi’s domicile policy.
Mahto won assembly election from Dumri in 1977
Mahto started his political career with Bharatiya Jana Sangh. However, later, he was influenced by Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan and turned towards socialist ideology. In the 1977 assembly elections held after the Emergency, he contested the Dumri seat as a Janata Party candidate, which he also won. After this, he again became MLA of Dumri in 1990 on a Janata Dal ticket.
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In the assembly elections held in 1999, he became MLA for the third time by contesting as a JD-U candidate from the Dumri seat and became the Energy Minister in the first government of Jharkhand. After this, in the 2004 assembly elections, he contested the Dumri seat on the Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket. In the 2009 assembly elections, he formed his own party named Bahujan Sadan Morcha and contested from the Dumri seat. He had contested the 2014 assembly elections as a BJP candidate from the Dumri seat. He had to face defeat in all three assembly elections.
