Bihar power play begins with four seats; BJP, allies lock horns with grand alliance

The four constituencies, which went to the NDA in 2019, will vote in the first of the sevenphase polls in the State; BJP has fielded candidates in Aurangabad and Nawada, and allotted Gaya and Jamui to HAMS and LJPRV respectively; RJD leads Opposition g

The first of the sevenphase Lok Sabha election in Bihar will see the four constituencies of Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui and Nawada going to the polls on April 19.

The fates of 38 candidates will be decided in these four constituencies, with Gaya having the highest number of 14 candidates in the fray.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, all four seats went to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — the BJP in Aurangabad, the Janata Dal (U) in Gaya, and the then united Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Jamui and Nawada.

In the 2024 election, the BJP has fielded its candidates for the Aurangabad and Nawada constituencies, with the Gaya (reserved) seat going to its ally, the Hindustani Awam MorchaSecular (HAMS), and the Jamui (reserved) seat to another alliance partner, the Chirag Paswanled Lok Janshakti PartyRam Vilas (LJPRV).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his election campaign in Bihar from Jamui on April 4, and addressed a public meeting in Nawada on April 7. He is scheduled to address another public meeting in Gaya on Tuesday.

In Aurangabad, threetime BJP MP Sushil Kumar Singh stands against the Opposition mahagathbandhan candidate and new entrant Abhay Kushwaha, who is fighting on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket. Mr. Kushwaha was a JD(U) MLA from the Tekari Assembly constituency in 2015 but recently joined the RJD.

A Rajputdominated seat, Aurangabad also has a sizeable number of Other Backward Class (OBC) and

Extremely Backward Class (EBC) voters. Mr. Kushwaha belongs to an OBC community.

The constituency has over 18 lakh voters — 25% of them are from the General Category, 20% are OBC, over 23% EBC, 20% are Scheduled Castes, and 10% are Muslims. In the General Category, over 70% voters are Rajputs.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Sunesh Kumar, and has made the battle for Aurangabad tough for both the NDA and mahagathbandhan candidates, say observers.

At Nawada, the BJP’s Vivek Thakur has a tough fight on his hands with

Shrawan Kushwaha, an OBC candidate fielded by the mahagathbandhan, and Independent candidates Vinod Yadav and Bhojpuri singer Gunjan Singh as his opponents.

Earlier, the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency was represented by firebrand BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh but in the 2019 election, the seat was won by then united LJP’s Chandan Singh.

Pitching the local versus outsider angle, Mr. Shrawan Kushwaha has been saying, “jo yahan ka beta hoga, wohi yahan ka neta hoga [only a local will lead]”. Mr. Thakur, who comes from Patna district, has played down the issue as “insignificant”.

Both Mr. Thakur and Mr. Kushwaha are contesting a Lok Sabha election for the first time. Mr. Thakur is campaigning on the NDA’s development plank while Mr. Shrawan Kushwaha underlines the “lack of development, industry, and good hospital facilities and schools” in the constituency.

The contest for Gaya

From the Gaya (reserved) seat, Jitan Ram Manjhi of the HAM(S) is pitted against the RJD’s Kumar Sarvajeet. Mr. Manjhi, 79, a former Chief Minister of Bihar, is trying his luck from the constituency for the fourth time, while Mr. Sarvajeet, 49, is the RJD’s sitting MLA from Bodh Gaya and a former State Agriculture and Tourism Minister. His father, the late Rajesh Kumar, became an MP after defeating Mr. Manjhi in the 1991 Lok Sabha election, and his father’s murder in 2005 resulted in Mr. Sarvajeet’s plunge into politics. “Now, I’ll defeat him [Mr. Manjhi] in his fourth attempt,” Mr. Sarvajeet said.

Also in the fray is the BSP’s Sushma Kumari, who is banking on the sizeable chunk of EBC voters in the constituency. Over 30% of the voters in the constituency belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC). The biggest issue in the constituency has been water scarcity.

For the Jamui (reserved) seat, LJPRV chief Mr. Chirag Paswan has fielded his brotherinlaw Arun Bharti, against mahagathbandhan candidate Archana Ravidas of the RJD. Ms. Ravidas is the wife of local RJD leader Mukesh Yadav, and is contesting the Lok Sabha election for the first time.

Mr. Chirag Paswan has been the MP from Jamui twice, in 2014 and 2019, but this time, he is contesting from his late father Ram Vilas Paswan’s stronghold, the Hajipur (reserved) seat in Vaishali district.

The Jamui (reserved) seat, which has a total 17 lakh voters, has nearly 2.5 lakh EBC voters, with an equal number of OBC Yadav voters, and Koeri, Kurmi and Dhanuk voters. The constituency, spread over the three districts of Munger, Jamui and Sheikhpura, and six Assembly segments of Tarapur, Sheikpura, Sikandra, Jamui, Jhajha and Chakai, also has about 1.5 lakh Muslim voters.